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Midvale City Councilman Wayne Sharp is helping a South Salt Lake neighborhood show its wild side.
That's in addition to several other neighborhoods he has populated with bears. And he is responsible for a dragon at Midvale Elementary School.
Sharp has a way of showing his artistic side. He is a chain saw artist, expressing his creativity through old stumps in yards or blocks of wood.
He recently completed one of his largest sculptures, a pair of nesting barn owls that keep watch over their South Salt Lake neighborhood, at about 3060 South and 300 East. The owls are carved from the stump of a dying cottonwood tree that had to be removed.
The tree was loved, said R.C. Olsen, who lives in the house with his daughter, Erin. But they feared it would blow over in a storm and damage the house. Hauling away the stump, roughly 11 feet tall and 8 feet wide, would have cost thousands of dollars, Olsen said, so his daughter decided to commission the sculpture.
It's Sharp's first attempt at owls on a large scale, though he has done a few that were less than a foot high. He has no formal training and works from photos his daughter finds online, referring back to printouts in his truck to see how things are looking.
Sharp began carving several years ago, after seeing master chain saw carver Mark Colp at the Utah State Fair.
"I already had the saws, so I thought I'd try it," he said. He runs a landscaping business and had experience with tree removal.
Sharp said his wife drew some rough outlines on the wood for his first project, but since then, he has worked freehand, carving all manner of fanciful objects. He has done at least 50 yard sculptures from stumps, and countless smaller statues, usually about one to two feet high.
"Bears are most popular by far, so I'm pretty fast at bears," Sharp said. "If I make a mistake, it will just be a little smaller."
Sharp uses the commissions on sculptures to supplement his landscaping business, usually charging about $100 per foot of wood. But he has donated several of his works. The children at Midvale Elementary love playing on his 7-foot dragon, and the Midvale and West Jordan fire departments have life-size firefighters.
Sharp said his favorite thing about sculpting outdoors is that it tends to bring neighborhoods together. Since he began sculpting the owls, dozens of neighbors have turned out to watch, often meeting each other for the first time as they discuss his progress.
Francisco Tahua lives about a block away but walks past the owls every day. He has enjoyed meeting his neighbors and thinks the sculpture will be an asset to the neighborhood.
Sharp's sculpting is about to wind down for the spring, when landscaping picks up. A large outdoor carving can take up to 40 hours, including sanding, burning for color and adding a water seal. Most works should last about 30 years, he said, if given regular care.
kdrake@sltrib.com See the art
Wayne Sharp has several chain saw sculptures on public display. The owls can be seen at 3060 South, just east of 300 East. A dragon is on display on the playground at Midvale Elementary, 362 W. Center St. The West Jordan and Midvale fire departments also have sculptures. For more information, call Sharp at 801-232-7234.