Jarrett Dahl | Wood Sculptor
Originally from Dawson, MN, Jarrett Dahl grew up enjoying all the pleasures of living in the country. As children, he and his brother Jordan climbed trees, played ball, fished lakes, and annoyed their three sisters. When summer came Jarrett’s mother, father, and their five kids headed across the country for family vacations filled with serious adventure and learning. History, geography, and culture took on real meaning as they journeyed through almost every state.
At the age of 18, Jarrett discovered his chainsaw talent in the summer of 2004 while visiting Alaska. Scott Hanson, a successful chainsaw artist, gave Jarrett a carving lesson on his second day in Alaska, and by day’s end he had carved seven little stump bears–and they sold quickly. He continued to carve, mostly bears and eagles, under the apprenticeship of Hanson. Ever since Jarrett has passionately pursued chainsaw carving and has honed his skills beyond their wildest expectations.
Today, Jarrett Dahl carves life and personality into native Black Hills trees at his sculpture shop and gallery in Keystone, South Dakota, a small mountain town just two miles from Mount Rushmore. His sculptures can be found throughout the entire city as well as in many places around the United States.
Chainsaw art is different from other sculptural art because… there are many risk factors involved, and it is a lot less forgiving since you’re taking away from the sculptures rather than adding more.
You may have seen my work… at Cabela’s stores around the Midwest, art galleries located around the town of Aspen, and through features in a few movies, TV shows, and magazines around the world. I’ve also had the opportunity to perform live carving shows at the Minnesota State Fair and competed in multiple carving competitions across the country. One of my sculptures, a large eagle motorcycle, is featured at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Baltimore, Md.
My brother and I do this because… the art of creating a wood sculpture with a chainsaw in such a short amount of time is thrilling and exciting. It was a privilege to be able to pass this form of art down to my brother, as well. It is also very heartwarming to see the smiles on people’s faces when they get to take home a sculpture from the Black Hills as a souvenir.
One thing most people don’t know about chainsaw art is… sometimes the smaller-scale sculptures can be more difficult than some of the larger-scale sculptures because a chainsaw is a very large and aggressive tool to use when removing wood.
The best part of living in the Black Hills is… the privilege of driving to work every day with the beautiful scenery. Also, the weather out here is great carving weather year-round, which makes it easier to carve. Living in the Black Hills also provides me with unlimited access to wood to carve with.
What I love about meeting visitors from outside of the state is… meeting tourists from all over the world, and hearing their own experiences with wood carving they have done themselves.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/xcBVNRLu3Dc
- https://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/business/dahls-chainsaw-art-keystone
- https://605magazine.com/2018/07/01/meet-the-artist-jarrett-dahl/
- https://us-east-2.console.aws.amazon.com/polly/home/SynthesizeSpeech
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