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Light Rain May features local artists at Wantagh Library
A pair of art displays this month at the Wantagh Public Library showcase different talents, and residents are invited to stop in to check out the work.
Mickey Schussler, who has lived in Wantagh for 26 years, has filled two display cases with carvings that he and fellow members of the Long Island Woodcarvers Association created. The pieces include birds, paddles, ornaments, people, spoons and more.
Diana Fogarty, a Wantagh native, has some personal drawings and paintings hanging in the community room, along with works created by the artists at Splashes of Hope. She is one of three staff artists at the Huntington-based agency which creates murals at hospitals and other facilities.
Schussler, who is secretary of Long Island Woodcarvers and vice president of the Greater New York Woodcarvers Club, took up the hobby two years ago. He and his fellow carvers meet twice a month in Massapequa.
About one-third of the pieces in the display case next to the copy machine are his, featuring different designs and carving techniques. Among his favorites are a pirate, which was the last piece his wife saw before she died from cancer in September, a candlestick that he made from a piece of wood he found in the garbage, and a tiki, the first piece he ever made which he gave to his daughter and borrowed for this display.
In all, 18 men and women are represented in the display, which will be in place until the end of May. “There are very, very talented carvers in this show,” Schussler said.
Schussler was a police officer and then became a carpenter, so working with wood is not new to him. He did have to learn the various tools needed to be a carver and said his skills have progressed in the past two years. “The more you practice, the better you get,” he said. “After a while, it just becomes fluid.”
He said one of the advantages of wood carving is that most mistakes can easily be corrected. Schussler likes to use different kinds of wood, including pine, mahogany and butterwood, but said his favorite is basswood.
