Wahpeton Carving Weekend webpage
Carving, All for One and One for All!
By Bob Lawrence
In 1993, myself and a group of talented carving instructors and carvers from the Fargo/Moorhead area attended the Waldorf Carving Weekend in Forest City, Iowa, at Waldorf College. After the group returned home from experiencing teaching and attending carving classes at the college, we were excited about the possibility of providing this amazing opportunity for our friends in the Fargo-Moorhead area. We began talking about establishing a carving school for the Red River Valley wood carvers.
Ten local carvers came up with a plan to develop our dream in John Hall’s shop during our weekly carving sessions in Moorhead, MN. We approached some of the colleges in the Fargo-Moorhead area. They were way out of our price range! One campus wanted a fee of $2000 per student for a weekend of carving. Ruben Brownlee, from our group, approached the junior college at
Wahpeton. (Now NDSCS – N.D. State College of Science) The school was interested in our proposal to set up a carving weekend for all ability levels to have a place to learn and share carving talents.
It was the decision for our group of ten to proceed with establishing an annual seminar weekend. Each of us chipped in $100 to create our first year. This was the genesis for flyers, postage and advertising. Our first year, in June, of 1994, was a rousing success. There were 12 carving classes offered and 150 participants. Classes covered everything from chip, mallet and chisel carving to caricatures for beginners to advanced carvers. Additional classes for family and/or friends of carvers were also offered, such as sewing, quilting, drawing, painting, etc. Everyone attending was able to enjoy learning experiences alongside their family or friends!
Over the decades we have seen our dream come true. What started as a great way to help improve carving skills to all that attended, now has developed into a large community of people that reconnect annually and share their lives along with learning multiple carving techniques. The highest attendance charted has been 204 students from many states and Canada.
2024 will be our 30th year of offering the Wahpeton Carving Seminar at NDSCS. The seminar is always held on the last full 3-day weekend of June of each year. We continue to strive for the best experience and always work hard to keep the cost affordable, keeping just enough dollars set aside to fund the next year. The carving sessions consist of two and a half days. Dorms are available for overnights. Six fantastic meals and snacks are a highlight to keep everyone nourished and have time to enjoy their weekend on campus. We have also incorporated chair massages into the weekend to give the participants a chance to relax and relieve any muscular stress from intense carving! Participants are also encouraged during the weekend to visit any and all classes being taught to see all the different ways their love of carving can be translated into so many different possibilities.
We now offer flexible pricing options for participation. Participants can elect to pay just for tuition and meals or can add a dorm stay. An extra night can be arranged for a nominal price to head home Monday morning. Material costs are paid to instructors which is outlined in the registration information. A beginning carving class is offered for new carvers. Their tuition includes a knife, gouge, v-tool, glove and a thumb guard.
Thank you to all of our creative instructors and participants over the years for making this event possible for all ages and all experience levels. Great people are the frosting on this cake of this idea turned into a reality!
All registration forms are mailed out. If you would like to be on the mailing list or for more information on the weekend, contact:
Bob Splichal
701-899-8994
bsplichal@midco.net
Bob Lawrence
701-540-2419
rrclawre@aol.com
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