FRESH ART GRACES CAPE, JACKSON: INDIAN CARVED FROM TREE

JACKSON, Mo. -- For the past three and one-half weeks, people in cars stopped at Jackson's busiest intersection have been honking their horns and pointing their thumbs skyward at a man with a chain saw.

Chain-saw sculptor August W. Birk usually doesn't work as publicly as he did turning the stump of a pin oak tree on the front lawn of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce building into the statue of an Indian brave, the Jackson High School mascot.

He finished Thursday just in time for the Indians' first home football game on Friday.

The project was commissioned by the Jackson Chamber of Commerce after the pin oak was pruned in a way that killed it. The oak was 46 inches in diameter and 50 feet high before trimmed in preparation for sculpting. The entire finished statue, including the base, now stands more than 11 feet high.

Five bags of sawdust sat at the foot of the statue Friday. Some Jackson High School students already had taken bags, announcing a plan to package some "spirit dust."

Birk worked from a drawing by Jackson High School student Megan Thiele. Her Indian brave was young, handsome and smiling. Birk's wooden one looks a bit more mature and rugged with more prominent cheekbones.

To him, the statue represents more than Jackson's mascot. "I wanted it to be done in honor of the Indians who lived in this area," he said. "I'm hoping people will have good feelings about it."

Indeed, a number of Native Americans stopped to admire his work while the statue was being created.

It does not have a name. Birk simply calls it "Indian Brave."

The Indian brave is protected by three coats of preservatives and one coat of sealer. Birk considered painting the sculpture but likes the way it looks in a more natural state. "I'm proud of it myself," he said. "I'm happy with the way it turned out."

"... It's probably one of the nicest pieces of wood I've worked with."

But working with a stump instead of a log can lead to long-term problems for a statue. Water circulating up from the root system can causes decay, and the sculptures sometimes have to be cut off and placed on a pad.

Retired from his Cape Girardeau heating and air-conditioning business, Birk has been making art with trees and chain saws for more than 17 years. He isn't exactly prolific. He likes to play golf and tennis as well as carve up trees. But 26 of his statues are sprinkled around the region now at various homes, golf courses and parks.

They include a St. Francis, numerous Indians and golfers, an angel and a Jesus at Memorial Park Cemetery, football players and Cape Girardeau founder Don Louis Lorimier at Cape Rock Park. His statue of a a snake lying on a log is at the Louisville Zoo. He also carves smaller wooden reliefs.

Birk has only one statue at his own house: A sculpture of his granddaughter, Katie, in the flower garden.

He studied art in college, so it wasn't an enormous leap from heating and air-conditioning business owner to chain saw artist. But, he admits, he did have some trepidation about carving his first statue, an owl, in his own yard.

"I said, The neighbors will think I'm crazy."