UPTOWN ART; BIRK BEGINS WORK ON CHAMBER TREE SCULPTURE

August Birk is a skilled artisan with the chainsaw.

Instead of a tragedy, Joe Sherinski expects to see the stump of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce's departed pin oak turned into a triumph.

The victim of bad pruning, the 70-year-old pin oak, which died during the past year, is being turned into a piece of civic art by renowned chain saw artist August Birk.

"When I drove by before, I saw it as a testament to bad pruning," said Sherinski, chairman of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee, which is heading the project. "Now I can look at it as a piece of art."

Birk, a Cape Girardeau business owner, who has an art degree, has gained a wide reputation throughout the area for his impressive chain saw sculptures.

Most have been in Cape subdivisions. Statues include football players, golfers, children, a soldier, a bowing Asian man, an eagle, a cave man, an angel with Jesus, and historic figures like St. Francis of Assisi and Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lormier.

His carvings generally take about 100 hours of work. He enlarges a drawing and works from that.

"He's an incredibly artistic fellow," Sherinski said. "I really admire him and like what he does."

Birk does most of the work with a chain saw, then uses a drimmel, with grinding bits and a rotary rasp, for minute details.

Birk began working on the lobbed-off oak trunk Monday and has been the center of attention since.

"When he started cutting, I watched people in cars," Sherinski said. "Everybody is watching him do this. We'll be lucky if we don't have any traffic accidents! He normally does it in some subdivision. Here 3,000 cars a day go past. It's going to make a heck of a splash."

The statue will be an Indian, standing with arms crossed defiantly across his chest. Sherinski imagines most Jackson High School students and alumni will assume the carving represents the school mascot. Actually the figure is primarily in honor of the Native Americans who perished on the nearby Trail of Tears during the early 19th century.

The Chamber is still seeking donations to pay for the figure. Donations may be sent to The Community Coalition, care of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce. Donations are tax deductible.

"I love Mr. Birk's work," Sherinski said. "There's no mistake about it. What he does is art."

Sherinski believes the carving should last for decades especially if it is painted. He noted that it could even be conceivable later to saw the trunk off and place a sheet of copper between the lower trunk (where decay is already beginning, deep inside) and the carving itself. This would add many extra years to the life of the figure.

However many decades it survives, the tree sculpture will give uptown Jackson a major work of art.