Felled trees become works of art in the hands of Burke County chainsaw artist

Sawdust filled the air like a smoke cloud as Chris Markey used a small chainsaw to cut into a pine log he balanced on a stump. The January air was cool, but he wasn’t cutting wood to throw onto a fire. 

With each passing minute, a bear slowly takes shape.

For the last two years, Chris has devoted his full attention to growing his chainsaw artist business, initially simply a hobby, after leaving behind his job in manufacturing.

“It was a leap, but it wasn’t a reckless leap,” he said. “We’re also people of faith. We truly believe our needs will be met. But we have to do our part – keep a simple life and have fiscal discipline.”

His wife, Samantha, noted they do everything as a family and believes in her husband’s creative passion. The Markeys have three young children. Their preteen son, Roy, is Dad’s apprentice. He organizes tools and prepares logs for carving by stripping off the bark with a drawknife. 

“Chris is a natural artist,” she said. “He resembles his father in that way.”

Chris and Samantha, who started dating in high school, grew up in Michigan’s Central Lower Peninsula in the village of Perrinton. Chris’ father was also a wood crafter. He offered hand-carved wooden signs in his sign-making business. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Chris whittled often to pass the time. His youthful interest in rustic and flat-plane carving inspires the style and method he uses today.

The couple moved to Morganton a little over a decade ago. Samantha said her dad’s family is originally from Avery County. She also has an aunt living in Morganton. Western North Carolina was a natural choice for them. “We were ready to stretch our legs and begin an adventure together,” she said.  

The move also proved to be fortuitous.

“Western North Carolina has such a strong craft heritage and industry,” Chris said. 

He began by selling small works on Facebook Marketplace. They sold quickly. During his first month of being self-employed, a boutique in Asheville asked if he could show them more of his work. He provided them with photos. The boutique responded they did not want to buy one or two. They wanted to buy them all. 

“When they wrote a check for all of them, that’s when I knew,” he said. The boutique’s interest confirmed that he was on the right track. The store ordered more woodcarvings after selling all in that first batch.  

Chris still sells on Facebook Marketplace, but he also has his work in nearby stores and galleries. You can find his artistry in Seven Sisters Craft Gallery and Bramblewood, both in Black Mountain, and Mountain Made Gallery in Asheville. He also creates custom-commissioned pieces.

Woodland creatures – bears, eagles, and owls -- are his favorite subject matter. A fan favorite is Bigfoot. Chris plans to incorporate more functional pieces, too.

The Markey family takes the carving business on the road, too. They attended about a half-dozen festivals in 2023. Markey doesn’t sit under a 10-by-10-foot canopy. He demonstrates his art, taking a chainsaw to logs for the public to watch as he works. 

Pine is one of Chris’ favorite mediums because the grain has great character. Another favorite is birch. He also works with oak, but the famously hard word can be difficult to carve. The wood he uses is from felled trees.

“Most are trees that will be cut down anyway,” he said. “We do not cut down trees to use for my carvings.”

One of Chris’ wood providers is local arborist JSI Tree Service.

“They got in touch with me and said they liked my work and wanted to support the art. This was wood that would go to waste, trees that had to be cut down,” Chris said. Whatever he wanted to haul away was his. He also has friends in construction that fell trees for building projects. 

“Technically, what I do is upcycling,” he said. Upcycling is taking discarded objects or materials and giving them new life as another product, often of higher quality or value than the original.

Contact Chris or view more of this work on his Facebook page, Markey & Son Woodcraft and Carving.

Angela Kuper Copeland is the arts & entertainment editor at The Paper. She may be reached at angela@thepaper.media or 828-445-8595.