by Arlene Wright-Correll

This weekís artist is Jesse Davis

Jesse Davis doesnít earn a living at his art which is scroll sawn wood objects. Matter of fact he is busy protecting you, me and our country while he serves in the United States Air Force while on active duty USAF member (CMSgt / E-9, stationed at Hurlburt Field, FL, HQ Air Force Special Operations Command).

Jesse has been doing Scroll Saw Artwork in his spare time for over 17 years and has become more active at it since December 2005.

When Jesse wrote me about his artwork he said, “Though my current methods are more modern than the old-time, foot-operated scroll saw, I still create one of a kind, handcrafted pieces using my hands, eyes, and an electric scroll saw. There is absolutely no laser cutting, CNC, or computer-controlled cutting found on his web site. I make many of my own patterns as well, and can custom design just about any pattern / cutting out there and he considers his sawn wood “objects” as artwork verses the word “crafts”. “Nothing is wrong with crafts per se,” he continued, “I just prefer the term artwork!”

When I asked, “Why are you a scroll saw artist?”Jesse replied, “I’ve never been able to cut a straight line in my whole life, so I went out and got myself a scroll saw. I read this “joke” on a woodworking forum, and for anyone who is at all familiar with a scroll saw, they can attest cutting straight lines on a scroll saw can be difficult. I have worked with wood all of my life and enjoy the satisfaction of creating art from a piece of wood’s blank canvas. It is even more rewarding when the pattern is of my own design!”

Jesse pays particular attention to detail, fit and finish. One of his mottos is “first class or no class,” and his pieces will meet that standard every time.

A lot of scroll saw artists know Jesseís work and his patterns as he has been published four times with Creative Woodworks & Crafts, and is working on a fifth article now. The USAF magazine, “Intercom,” did a piece on him, and these are on his website too.

Jesse makes a lot of his art for gifts for family and friends and does a lot of it as donations to raise money for charities he supports.

As I said,Jesse is busy right not defending our country and when I asked Jesse if he would sell to customers for special orders he said, “People can contact me, however, I am full time active duty Air Force, and stay on the road quite a bit. I try to work patterns and/or cuttings in as I can, but obviously cannot satisfy short notice orders. I predominately would like to sell patterns only from the website (for now), but they will change once I retire from the USAF around 2010.” You can reach him at jesse@scrollsawnart.com or his website Scroll Sawn Art http://www.scrollsawnart.com

(Contact Arlene Wright-Correll at 270 524 9567 or email her at askarlene@scrtc.com  if you want to be next weekís column of Whoís Who in Artís and Crafts)