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www.BurlesonCrowley.com
Strong as Oak
By Danielle Novy/bcnews@trcle.com
May 13, 2008, 18:15
The practice of wood carving may have dwindled in recent centuries, but the art form is alive and flourishing on a rustic Burleson farm owned by Charlie and Louise Boren.
After years of traveling across Europe and North America to study carving alongside master wood sculptors, the Borens rest comfortably on land they inherited from Charlie’s aunt and uncle.
The pair recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and throughout their interwoven lives, the Borens have accumulated myriad tales.
Charlie and Louise, who were raised in small, sun-soaked West Texas towns, met at ages 14 and 12, respectively.
“We sat together in the picture show, and he held my hand,” Louise said. “And that’s how it all began.”
The teenagers parted ways when Charlie graduated from high school and served in the Naval Air Corps for two years as a combat air crewman. Meanwhile, Louise enrolled at Texas Tech University.
After the war, Charlie returned to Texas and married Louise — and the first chapter of their life together began to unfold.
“Those were very busy times,” Louise said. Charlie balanced work with his course load, and in 1950, the night before Charlie’s graduation ceremony, the couple’s first daughter was born.
The Boren family lived in several small Texas towns where Charlie coached football and taught history before adding to their brood in 1953 with the birth of a second daughter.
The family migrated to Austin in 1958 seeking quality schooling and a stability that cannot be found on the gridiron in small towns.
“In those little towns, if you don’t win, you get fired,” Louise said.
During the Borens’ time in Austin — a city splattered with museums and musicians — Charlie discovered that wood carving was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, Louise said.
Charlie studied carving in England, Germany and Canada with masters who shared his philosophies about the art form. He said he and Louise stayed about a month in each destination, absorbing the different cultures and artistic influences.
“I was just busy studying carving,” Charlie said. “I carved from early in the morning to late in the afternoon.”
Louise said that while her husband devoted himself to his studies, she sought adventure in each foreign land.
“Each place has something interesting,” she said, naming a viewing of the Passion play in Oberammergau, Germany, as the shining highlight of her days abroad.
In 1979, the couple moved to North Texas after deciding the old Burleson farm they inherited would be the ideal setting for Charlie to delve fully into his craft.
“We realized we could turn it into the art farm we envisioned,” Louise said.
The farm’s old barns now house sculptures, wood carvings and paintings, but the buildings have retained their historic integrity, she said. The property is now something of an artist’s oasis: Galleries packed with colorful art and detailed woodwork are planted amid acres of farm houses and tall grass.
In the late 1990s, Charlie used the farm as a venue to teach three-day seminars, and lengthy waiting lists composed of eager artists soon formed.
Several years later, deciding he wanted to give something of himself to the Burleson community, Charlie went to local church officials and told them he would give five area residents eight months of free carving lessons if his pupils each donated one of their pieces to the church for a fundraiser.
“At the end of eight months, they didn’t want to stop coming,” Charlie said with a laugh.
The small band of aspiring carvers joined forces with Charlie to establish the Russell Farm Art Center in 2001. Although the nonprofit center, named after Charlie’s ancestors, provides a place for local artists to meet and display their work, an emphasis is placed on wood sculpture.
“It is a part of the many art forms that are very ancient; it goes back to pre-historic times,” Charlie said. “But nowadays, not very many people are doing it because it’s very difficult and takes a long time to learn how to do it. But I enjoy working with wood because it’s something that’s been alive, and each piece is different.”
Although his passion for wood carving did not reach its peak until he was an adult, Charlie said he was introduced to the art as a child as he watched his elderly neighbor whittle small animals.
“He gave me my first knife,” Charlie said. “We’d sit out there and whittle together, and he’d tell me tales of his days as a sheriff.”
Decades later, Charlie and Louise are now the ones imparting their stories and wisdom on new generations.
“I watch these young people who’ve started in art, and I see the struggles they must endure and the rewards that come with those struggles,” Louise said. “You have to be strong enough to accept the disappointments.”
For information on the Russell Farm Art Center, call 817-447-3316 or visit www.russellfarmartcenter.com.
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