Carving Out a Life:

Reflections of an Ithaca Wood-Carver

Mary Michael Shelley

Citation

Shelley, Mary Michael. “Carving Out a Life: Reflections of an Ithaca Wood-Carver.” New York Folklore, vol. 35: 3-4, 2009. pp. 4-9.

Summary

I was born in 1950 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. I started carving at age twenty-two, when my father gave me a gift of a painted wood-carving he had made of me at the farm where I grew up. This gift from my father inspired me to begin to make my own carved and painted pictures. Since then I’ve made more than one thousand pieces in thirty-five years. I think of my pictures as a visual diary that helps me make sense of the events and feelings of my life.

About The Article

Subjects
Regions
Populations