December 15, 2004
Carving holiday tradition
Sub head
By
Herald staff writer
John Schirmer has carved out a place in local holiday tradition.
For the last 21 years, Schirmer, formerly of Cedar, has spent five days each Christmas season transforming blocks of northern Michigan white pine into fictional characters for the Elferdinck Project at The Candle Factory in Traverse City.
Schirmer, who now lives in Fairfield, Iowa, was commissioned by store owner John Teichman in 1984 to create characters from the tale Teichman envisioned about a wood carver who emigrated from his home in Switzerland to the Grand Traverse region in the 1850s.
"He developed the story from a toy his mother gave him, a little puppet, and he extrapolated on it. It is about a man, born in Switzerland, who came to the Grand Traverse region and carved his childhood memories," said Schirmer, a professional wood carver for 25 years.
"Teichman approached me about the project after I carved the store's sign. I liked the first piece and we have been working together since," said Schirmer who looks forward to the five day stints he spends at The Candle Factory each year.
"I feel like he is the conductor and I am the orchestra. I'm essentially carving his poetry," Schirmer said.
While Teichman's story is the basis for the project, Schirmer's skill as a craftsman has made the project a holiday tradition.
"A small group of people come back every year to see what I am working on. They get a big kick out of it," said Schirmer who enjoys seeing the familiar faces.
This year, visitors saw Schirmer beginning a third phase in the Elferdinck Project. The roughed out sculpture, which pays honor to teachers, will take two or three more five day sessions over the next few years to complete.
"It is an homage to teachers. The goal is to express the moment of enlightenment, the aah-ha moment when the teacher-student relationship works and real learning occurs," Schirmer said.
The first group of seven objects, comprising phase one, are the remembrances of the mid-afternoon gathering of the village elders in the wood carving shed of Elferdinck's boyhood in the mountains of eastern Switzerland in the 1830's.
Elferdinck's past, present and future are depicted in a triptych crafted as the project's second phase. The first panel depicts the mountain village of Elferdinck's childhood in the Graubunden region of Switzerland. The second depicts a bay-side setting in the Grand Traverse region in his later years. The center, or master panel, sets down Elferdinck's religious and philosophical reflections.
Each phase creates a new set of challenges for Schirmer, but none is as great as the challenge of completing each piece over a series of years.
"It's different doing things five days at a time. I start out slowly but by the end of the first day I'm fully immersed and feel confident. Each piece just starts to take form and I can see what needs to be done. It's a wonderful state of thinking," Schirmer said.
The Elferdinck Project is on display at The Candle Factory in Traverse City throughout the year.