Light touch: Whittle the Wood Stump 5’s Justine Park sticks with feather motif in 2nd year

Andy Bockelman
Whether a pair of giant ones towering overhead or more than a dozen smaller but no less intricate features on display, Justine Park knows how to make wooden feathers stick out.
Stump 1 — Nate Hall — “Mountain Migraine”; Rams butting heads
Stump 2 — Matt Ounsworth — “20 for 20”; Animal totem (Second place)
Stump 3 — Jim Valentine — “Buckshot Bill”; Cowboy
Stump 4 — Damon Gorecki — “Wood Haven”; Bench
Stump 5 — Justine Park — “Home of the Brave”; Skull with feathered headdress
Stump 6 — Joe Srholez — “Xing Yun (Lucky)”; Dragon
Stump 7 — Chad Stratton — “Long Ago”; Wooly mammoth
Stump 8 — Bongo Love — “The Sweet Life”; Hummingbirds (Third place)
Stump 9 — Robert Lyon — “Horse of Course”; Horse
Stump 10 — Robert Waits — The Lorax”; The Lorax (Artist’s Choice)
Stump 11 — Fernando Dulnuan — “The Lion of Judah”; Angel with lion and lamb
Stump 12 — Ken Braun — “Blue”; Velociraptor (First place, People’s Choice, Artist’s Choice)
In her second year with Whittle the Wood Rendezvous, Boulder carver Park stuck with an element similar to the one she utilized in her WTW debut in 2018.
Her latest piece, “Home of the Brave,” portrays a Native American skull with a headdress full of feathers.

Andy Bockelman
Twenty of them, to be specific, in a nod to the 20th anniversary of Whittle the Wood.
In addition to that, the piece is symbolic in other ways, as well, she said.
“It’s kind of symbolic with life and death,” she said.

Andy Bockelman
The feathers — a number of which were individually carved by Park at a separate work station and later inserted into the head — are on the darker side, whereas the somber skull has a headband of vibrant colors, as well as a multi-colored swirl on the backside.

Andy Bockelman
Feathers played a prominent part in her first time at the Craig competition in 2018, in which she paid tribute to a young friend who had recently passed away. The piece “Be Like Nathalie” featured two large feathers flanking a series of mushrooms.

Andy Bockelman
“She was only 21 and had a heart condition no one knew about, so it’s been a pretty sad time,” Park said in 2018. “She loved feathers and she had such a wonderful spirit, so this is my piece for her.”

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