{"id":879,"date":"2014-03-19T17:45:52","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T17:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stichler.co.uk\/?p=879"},"modified":"2014-03-19T17:49:24","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T17:49:24","slug":"creating-a-fairytale-wonderland-in-hull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/03\/19\/creating-a-fairytale-wonderland-in-hull\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Fairytale Wonderland….in Hull"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLEN STICHLER: CREATING A FAIRYTALE WONDERLAND\u2026. IN HULL<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"barking-up-the-right-tree-photo-by-Sarah-Barradell-1050x700\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the sleepy streets of Cottingham, local artist Allen Stichler is causing quite a stir with the arrival of a unique form of art, literally, on their very doorsteps.
\nAn old Beech tree has been magically revived with engravings of fairies, gnomes and elves that look like they have sprung directly from the pages of an Arthur Rackham storybook. Stichler has been working on this piece for three weeks, diligently chiselling every detail by hand and bringing each creature to life one at a time. Painstakingly trivial, this piece is still nowhere near its completion.
\nHaving carved a career out of his craft for five years now, Allen feels that it was something that was just \u2018meant to be\u2019 after his life unexpectedly changed course. Formerly a warehouse manager, he discusses how this unusual talent came to light; \u2018I was made redundant, we got flooded, we had family illness, I was ill and I just decided to go out and buy a chisel.\u2019
\nHe sold his first piece of work to a neighbour, and then says it \u2018just snowballed from there.\u2019 Allen met with Jackie Lomax (Hull\u2019s original tree carver and a \u2018well known character\u2019), and decided that after Lomax\u2019s retirement, it was his job to keep the artistry alive and fresh; \u2018It\u2019s our tradition I suppose, and this job is keeping the tradition going. There aren\u2019t many of us about \u2013 it\u2019s all hairy men with chainsaws now!\u2019
\nAllen\u2019s main ambition however, is to use his passion to create unique works of art for his customers, simply turning the dreams of this particular customer who \u2018always wanted fairies at the end of her garden\u2019 into reality. Remaining humble since receiving unusual amounts of publicity after appearing in the Hull Daily Mail, Allen simply remarks; \u2018Everybody wants to talk to you, it\u2019s great \u2013 that means as much to me as the actual carving!\u2019
\nHis hope is that more people will have the opportunity to make a career out of their skill, since Hull won the City of Culture 2017 Award and more money is now being dedicated to the arts. So far however, Allen admits that he doesn\u2019t feel the award has made the effort to reach out to freelance artists like himself. He says that part of the joy of the job is the pleasure it brings to the community; \u2018I mean what people round here have enjoyed is seeing someone do something! You don\u2019t often see arty types doing something on your doorstep \u2013 I suppose it\u2019s a bit elitist isn\u2019t it, art?\u2019
\nOnly time will tell what impact the City of Culture award will have, but until then, let\u2019s hope we see more \u2018arty types\u2019 like Allen springing up and working their magic on our doorsteps.
\nAllen regularly holds wood carving workshops in North Cave, East Yorkshire throughout the year. Each workshop takes place over three consecutive Saturdays and are scheduled to be held on the 15th, 22nd and 29th March or the 5th, 12th and 19th April. For more information on workshops, or to view Allen\u2019s portfolio and products available to buy, visit www.stichler.co.uk.<\/p>\n

Article by Grace Wood for The Hullfire<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thehullfire.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALLEN STICHLER: CREATING A FAIRYTALE WONDERLAND\u2026. IN HULL In the sleepy streets of Cottingham, local artist Allen Stichler is causing quite a stir with the arrival of a unique form of art, literally, on their very doorsteps. An old Beech tree has been magically revived with engravings of fairies, gnomes and elves that look like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carving-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stichler.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}