MID-AMERICA WOODCARVERS ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DOANE EXPERIENCE

by Ken Armsbury

Twenty-five years ago a small group of woodcarvers in Nebraska (the Mid-America Woodcarvers Association) decided to organize a carving workshop to provide instruction to assist in advancing the carving skills of the group. The wife of one of the members, Bob Hegler, worked at a small private college, Doane College, in a small Nebraska community, Crete, just west of Lincoln. She made arrangements for the group to use the college facilities for their workshop. The first workshop was three days long and was made up of three different classes attended by 41 students. In fact, the desire amongst the members of the group to advance the art of woodcarving was so great that the instructors even paid to attend the workshops in order to volunteer their teaching skills (today the instructors still volunteer their talents but receive their room and board free). Over the years a number of prominent personalities in the carving community have been associated with the Doane Experience; Ed Gallenstein, President of the National Woodcarvers Association as well as vice president Bill Staley, E. J. Tangerman, Harold Enlow, John Burke, Stu Martin and Desiree Hajny.

The classes offered have ranged far and wide, including most every style of woodcarving, bronze casting, sign making, gold leafing, clay sculpting, wood burning, painting and other arts and crafts ( in fact Ed Gallenstein believed that the Doane Experience was perhaps the first workshop in the U.S. to offer bench carving classes). The uniqueness of the Doane Experience is the fact that all of the instructors volunteer their services to the workshop and their only pay comes from the tools and other carving supplies and the cutouts and roughouts which they sell to the students. The success of the Doane Experience has been duplicated by other groups around the U.S. and Canada ( at least 5-10 other workshops have been patterned after the Doane system).

The summer of 2001 represented the 25th anniversary of the Mid-America Woodcarvers Association Doane Experience. Three hundred and fifteen people representing 28 states as well as Canada gathered on the campus of Doane College during the week of July 29-August 4 to participate in 24 different classes taught by 29 instructors from around the region as well as the nation. The participants enrolled in a curriculum made up of classes covering a wide range of carving subjects and related arts/crafts areas (caricatures, realistic animals, realistic humans, santas, trolls, relief carving, chip carving, birds, fish, wood burning, painting, baskets, sewing).

What has made the Doane Experience such a popular and unique workshop over the past 25 years is the distinguished group of very talented instructors who volunteer their time free of charge to teach the wide variety of classes offered. This, of course, makes the week-long workshop very affordable in comparison to other seminars held around the nation (the 2001 tuition was $230 per person). The instructional staff represents some of the prominent names in the woodcarving community both regionally and nationally: Sally Carlson, Marty Dolphens, Sandy Foral, Rene (Doc) Hlavac, Dorothy Huser, Vic Schoonover and Steve Schumacher represented Nebraska talent; Carlan Honaker, Sheila Hunter, Dorothy Lewis and Russell (Buck) Reinecker, Kansas; Bob Lawrence and Gary Paulsen, North Dakota; Len Dillon, Arkansas; Larry Nowell, Tennessee; Carol Shriver, Oklahoma; Michele Carville, Arizona; Elaine and Fred Stenman, Minnesota; Linda Schmidt, Wisconsin; Orchid Davis, South Carolina and Rita Blanton, Missouri. Nationally known instructors were Kirt Curtis and wife, Linda Langenberg Curtis from Iowa and a group of CCA (Caricature Carvers of America) members; Phil Bishop of Oklahoma with wife, Vicki; Keith Morrill, South Dakota; Dave Stetson, Arizona and Bob Travis, California. The instructional staff and their reputations is a major contributor to the success of the Doane Experience each year and a great big thank you goes out to each of these people on behalf of the Doane Experience Committee.

Each year the week long schedule begins on Sunday afternoon as all of the participants arrive on the Doane campus, register and get settled into their dorm accommodations. An instructor's reception is held on Sunday afternoon while all of the class projects for the upcoming week are displayed for the students to examine. After the first meal on Sunday evening a welcoming meeting is held followed by the first visit to the classrooms and instructors by all of the students. Instruction and carving begin in earnest after breakfast on Monday and continues throughout the week. The culmination of the week long workshop is the carving show which is held on Friday afternoon just before dinner. Not only do the carvers enjoy examining each other's work but a number of the local residents look forward to the show and attend each year as well. Each evening during the week brings the organizing of a number of impromptu classes held in various locations in the class buildings. Some of the participants carve each evening until the wee hours of the morning. The only problem with the impromptu classes is too many choices, not enough time. Anyone who doesn't get enough carving time in has only themselves to blame. In fact the only thing that seems to interrupt the carving activities is meal time and sleep.

Aside from all of the great carving opportunities one of the highlights of the week is the Thursday evening raffle which offers a wide variety of super prizes to be awarded to the lucky ticket holders. This year's raffle was exceptionally good as indicated both by the large number of tickets purchased and the large number of great prizes to be won. A new attraction the audience was entertained again this year by the charm and wit of our MC, Mr. Larry Yudis, who always has a number of surprises in store for everyone. The 2001 raffle and auction was very successful and will fund a number of club functions throughout the next year. Therefore it is very important that a very big thank you be extended to all of those who were contributors to the raffle and auction; The Woodcraft Shop of Bettendorf, Iowa (Larry and Carol Yudis); The Woodcraft Corporation Store of St. Louis; Rossiter Ruffouts of Wichita, Kansas (Ivan and Trudy Rossiter); Western Woodcarvers (John and Nancy Burke); Arbortech Corporation; Wood and Wildcraft of Canada (Rick and Helen Wiebe); carvings and creations donated by Kirt Curtis, Linda Langenberg Curtis, Marty Dolphens, Dave Stetson, Bob Travis, Phil and Vicki Bishop, Elaine and Fred Stenman, Orchid and John Davis, Vic Schoonover, Gary Paulsen, Rita Blanton, Len Dillon, Opal Powers, Joe Wannamaker, Michele Carville, Keith Morrill; numerous instructor and student donations. Thanks also goes out to all who participated by purchasing raffle tickets and bidding in the auction.

Not only was the Doane campus a wonderland of carving and arts classes but it also became a cornucopia of carving supplies, tools, roughouts, cutouts and carving woods to whet the appetite and tempt the participants as Christmas came to the Doane Experience in July. The teaching staff offered a wide variety of carving blanks, roughouts, tools and other supplies. The Woodcraft Shop of Bettendorf, Iowa was our on-site carving supply store and Slim Maroushek (Slim's Woodshed) from Harmony, Minnesota provided for everyone's wood needs.

This year represented a repeat performance for the able members of the Doane Experience Committee as the week long workshop went off without a hitch and seemed to operate like a well oiled machine. Therefore credit must be given to the 2001 Doane Committee for their outstanding job; 1st VP Sherry LaTendresse, 2nd VP Ron Clarke and 3rd VP Rich Mahacek. Thanks also is extended to those board members who volunteered their time and other club members who assisted where needed.

Mid-America Woodcarvers is very fortunate in being able to use the campus facilities of Doane College each year. The campus is very compact and all of the buildings are in close proximity to one another. All buildings and dormitories are air conditioned which makes for a very comfortable week (especially this summer when the temperature and humidity were both near the century mark every day). In fact the college continues to build new structures and upgrade existing ones each year which makes the campus even more accommodating each year. The college staff as well as the townspeople are very hospitable and help to make the workshop very enjoyable for the carvers.