Sculptor Terry Woodall poses in the showroom of his studio, located in the woods above Kentuck Inlet. Contributed Photo

After Terry Woodall completed his most recent white cedar sculpture, he gave it a name: “The Provider.”

The piece shows a great blue heron fishing for smelt, her long neck folded over like a hairpin. As she probes the shallows, she twists her head slightly and her sharp beak closes on the tail of a tiny fish. At the edge of the of the sculpture’s three-foot base, a pair of young, honey colored herons stretch their own necks in anticipation of the meal. Small fish skeletons lie scattered nearby.

There is a lovely symmetry to Woodall’s latest artwork, when considering that the artist has, for the past 25 years, provided for his own family by carving the local woods into wildlife art.

He talks about the years of “dedication, discipline, and determination” which began when he decided to earn his living by carving wood; specifically, making “myrtlewood knick-knacks” for the coast’s myrtlewood shops.

“I raised our whole family this way. Sea Lion Caves was my first commercial account ... I made fifty sea lions at a time. My big dream was taking myrtlewood to the fine art level. I think I can safely say I’ve reached that level,” says Woodall, citing the silver medal awarded to him this year in the sculpture division of the San Dimas Festival of Western Arts.

The artist was born in Roseburg in 1951 and says that carving is in his blood. His great-grandfather sawed logs by hand, saving choice bits of burl whenever possible. And his great-grandmother’s story impressed him as well: a tale of life in the lumber camp’s cookhouse. During high school, Woodall worked with cedar shakes in the local mills. “I was really familiar with the lumber world,” he says. “I remember those one-log truck loads came in pretty commonly.”

Woodall doesn’t hunt, although he smiles when recalling the times spent fishing with his grandfather, and remembers how he “used to track deer in the hills, just for fun.”

His fascination with wildlife accelerated with the opening of Winston’s Wildlife Safari in 1972, where he found work. This was followed by what he describes as an “infatuation with furniture” and then, in 1981, with the establishment of his North Bend business, Pacific Carvings.

Today, Woodall uses his art in order to educate and encourage people about the preservation of threatened and endangered species. He was invited to provide two sculptures for the regionwide “Salmon for the Sandy” fundraising effort, and plans to attend the gala auction of those pieces on Oct. 24 at the Portland Art Museum.

This weekend, he travels to the third-annual Fort Worden Wildlife and Nature Art Expo in Port Townsend, Wash. There, he’ll set up a pyramid grid for the display of 30 myrtlewood sea otters, commemorating the 1970 successful release of 30 otters off the Washington coast. He’ll detail-carve the 12-inch otters during the three-day event, adding each to the grid upon completion.

“The installation,” he notes, “will highlight the success the sea otter has made in re-establishing colonies where they were once driven to extinction, and honor all the people whose hard work contributed to these successful colonies.”

Active in several artist associations and wildlife conservation groups, Woodall is happy to talk about art, woodworking, and species recovery from his studio on the Kentuck Inlet. You can read his piece about Coho salmon recovery in the current issue of Wildlife Art, and he can be contacted at http://www.terrywoodall.com, and through http://www.natureartists.com.