Joseph Charette is a British Columbia artist who has been carving for some years in different kinds of stone. He is a metis and faithful to his ancestral origin, he sees in art the expresion of his soul. He carved in wood for some time but then he discovered soapstone. The first time he was able to sink his hands and touch the spirit of the stone he was amazed. As he started carving through the stone, he could feel how as his hands were creating and bringing new life into being.
He has lived closely bound to land. The images of nature are imprinted in his soul and when he touches the rock he creates life. He has carved owls, walruses, ravens, bears, whales, seals, and eagles. The power of his will is imprinted in each one of these carvings. Truthful to the tradition of his ancestors he uses traditional tools to carve his images. His carvings are done using only hand tools.
None of his carvings has been done with power tools.
Joseph has used in his carvings some of these stones:
Joseph picks up each rock he will use with the greatest care taking into consideration its color and texture to imprint the character and soul of each one of his carvings.
Some examples of his carvings are:
The Canadian Bald Eagle is the most recent carving Joe has been working on. The Bald Eagle is 22 inches high. He made a special trip from Victoria BC to Vancouver BC to get the piece of soapstone he needed for it as in Victoria is hard to find soapstone of the dimensions he required. He traveled to Vancouver BC in September 2007 after he had a life-changing motorcycle accident in April 2007. For several months he studied eagles to find exactly what he was looking for: power and gracefulness merged in the same carving. Right now he is giving the last touches to it and hopes to finish by mid 2009. The level of detail he has given to this carving is amazing, as each feather in the eagle is a small piece of art by itself. As the eagle slowly emerges from the rock, this carving has life of its own and a powerful personality, which reflects the strong personality of the artist. We are including some pictures of the work in process of this carving taken in the artist's studio.
Owl on the Lookout and The Vigilant are two different carvings soapstone full of eloquence and elegance. Just as the previous carving -The Canadian Royal Eagle- we are including some pictures showing different steps of completion of the these two carvings, and just as the previous one, the level of detail in these soapstone carvings is overwhelming.
The Spirit of a Raven is of special value to Joseph. His native name is Precious Raven He was living one of the many hard moments in his life. He was doing chemortherapy and was feeling down, lonely and sick. Then this carving started to shape in heart. A raven -himself- raising from the ashes with an indomitable spirit. The image that was concieved in his mind took life in this soapstone and wood carving.
Making a Soapstone Carving is a long process that requires a detailed and thoughtful selection of the rock and the model in the most recent work -an eagle. This is done through direct observation of the eagle and through the study of hundreds of pictures depicting them in different situations and poses.
