Chainsaw Art

On our outing today we stop at the Pueblo Montano Trailhead area and took a walk around to view the chainsaw carving done by firefighter Joesph Mark Chavez after the fire of 2003 that killed so many big, beautiful cottonwoods. He used his chainsaw to make the sculpures and to remind people to be careful with fire. Unlike so much of the art work seen around Albuquerque that has cost the taxpayers untold amounts of money, these were done for free by someone that could see the beauty that the dead trees held even tho no one else could. Thank you Mr. Chavez.

Pueblo Montano Trailhead

There is a small park at the Pueblo Montano Trailhead that I went to this past week. I had been meaning to go for about a year or so and no one wanted to go with me so I went by myself. I found that a firefighter had made these wonderful chainsaw sculptures out the dead cottonwood tree trunks that were left from a fire that went throught this area in 2003. I had to take lots of photos of the sculptures and now I want to share them. I hope everyone appreciates this artwork as I do. My thanks to the artest for for doing the scuptures.

Firefighter

The firefighter is probably the largest of the wooden sculptures in the little park at the Pueblo Montano Trailhead. The sculptures were made byMark Chavez, who was one of the firefighters who fought the Albuquerque Bosque Fire of 2003. I have seen a lot of things made from wood using chainsaws (mostly bears) but the sculptures in the park are really unique. The tell the story of the fire, and the wildlife that live in the Bosque. The Bosque is the nature trails and native lands that border the Rio Grande River where it runs through Albuquerque, NM.

During the fire many of the beautiful cottonwood trees along this section of the river were killed. Instead of cutting down the dead trees to use them as firewood or hauling them to the dump Mark Chavez turned these tree stumps into fanstatic sculptures. More information at http://www.examiner.com/x-1972-Albuquerque-Travel-Examiner~y2009m9d10-Hidden-Albuquerque-Pueblo-Montano-park-and-the-wood-carvings-of-Mark-Chavez