Kalispell artist shifts focus to logging scenes

A Kalispell artist with a flair for wood mosaics has found a new audience for his work - the logging industry.

Ron Kelley has spent the past six years creating artwork using an ancient Italian wood-carving technique called intarsia. Derived from the Latin verb interserere, "to insert," intarsia dates back to 13th-century Italy, where the city of Siena was considered the cradle of wood carving and inlaying.

Kelley first focused on wildlife scenes that quickly drew attention from organizations such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Safari Club International. While his work has sold well in wildlife circles, the demand for his wooden mosaics of old logging scenes has exploded.

He hung the first set of logging scenes in the barbershop at WestCoast Outlaw Hotel, where he's cut hair for years.

"The locals grabbed them up right away," Kelley said. "With these logging scenes, every piece has sold. I didn't realize the locals would be so anxious to have them."

People in the logging industry like them because they're made out of wood, and wood is their business, he said.

Jim Petersen of Bigfork, one of Kelley's longtime barbershop customers, has helped Kelley market his art at key logging conferences in the West, including the Pacific Logging Congress conference last year in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"Much to my astonishment, they all sold in 20 minutes," Petersen said of the five pieces featured at the annual gathering.

The artwork doesn't come cheap: Each piece typically sells for several thousand dollars.

Petersen took a couple of Kelley's pieces to the Intermountain Logging Conference in Spokane, where they also immediately were purchased.

"I've known Ron since the '70s and it's a real thrill to be able to help him," Petersen said. "Ron has extraordinary talent. It's a unique, almost lost art."

Kelley bases his logging mosaics on historic photographs of logging scenes.

"I'm ready to work on a lumber camp picture," he said. "It has a train, logs on the cars" and several small camp buildings.

The photograph on which Kelley is basing the lumber-camp scene came from an old calendar.

"It's difficult to find these old logging scenes," he said, adding that the old photographs he's come upon are often of poor quality.

Petersen is taking a CD with photographs of Kelley's latest work to the Pacific Logging Congress conference this month in Victoria, British Columbia. The red tape involved in getting the actual artwork across the border proved too cumbersome.

Kelley discovered his knack for woodworking after his brother saw a bedroom set Kelley had made and suggested he try intarsia. It was something his brother had dabbled in for several years.

The art relies on wood color and grain to produce the desired effect. Kelley adds a three-dimensional element to his pieces.

Intarsia is more labor-intense than most other art forms. A piece he completed for Safari Club International contained 784 pieces and took 450 hours to make. Just the finish coat of clear sealant took 48 hours to apply.

Kelley's wife, Ardis, is an integral part of the business. She does much of the sanding and finish work and helps him tweak patterns for the designs.

Kelley searched a long time to find specialty wood brokers who could supply the dozens of different kinds of wood he uses for the desired effect in his work. On the back of each piece, the name of each wood used is wood-burned.

The exotic woods come from all over the world. Bocote, a wood from Mexico and Central America, has the perfect grain to recreate logs, Kelley said. African ebony is one of the most expensive, at more than $70 a foot. Kelley makes every scrap count.

"You've got to love to do this or you'll never make it," he said about the intricate nature of his art.

Even the eyes for people in his mosaics are tiny inlaid pieces of wood.

Although woodworking takes most of his time, Kelley has yet to hang up his barber shears for good. He works four hours a day, four days a week cutting hair.

"I've been cutting hair since 1959. It's hard to walk away completely," he said. "I have a lot of friends who are customers. They were my first supporters [for the intarsia]. I owe them thanks in more ways than one. I owe a special thanks to Jim Petersen."

Kelley is making sure his intarsia techniques are passed to the next generation. He's taught both of his children, Brock of West Yellowstone and Melinda Hovey of Kalispell, the basics of intarsia.

"They're both young and raising families, so they don't have that much time to devote to it," he said. "They drew some wonderful pictures in high school."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.