Bud Young
With some reservations, I'll endeavor to tell you about "most" of my 50-odd years in this weird and wondrous world.
In 1944 I was born into a farming family in southern Manitoba near the small village of High Bluff. Growing up on a farm meant you learned to fix, repair or build whatever you needed to keep operating. Innovation, imagination and creativity followed through my many endeavors and I feel has emerged into my carving.
Living close to the Delta Marsh in the south end of Lake Manitoba allowed me to learn from my father the arts of hunting and fishing, both of which I enjoyed for many years. I suppose you could say these passions were joined with playing baseball and rodeo in my teens and twenties.
For a half dozen years after leaving school I worked in the oil fields, as a heavy equipment operator in the bush and on road work, and in building construction. I then returned to the family farm and operated there until 1990; it was another passion and joy in my life.
My carving started about 1990. Decorative decoy carvings were the first challenges, a very gratifying art which I still enjoy. These are scattered from Victoria, B.C. to Ottawa, Ontario and into the USA. In 1996, I started carving antlers, and that is now my main passion.
Soapstone entered the realm of my abilities because of the insistence of friend and fellow carver Kevin Peters. He was right - something hidden in a stone can be coaxed out if the spirit is willing and your mind is open to all possibilities. Thanks, Kevin!
As mentioned, antler is my favorite medium, with moose antler being my preference. Incorporating an elk antler as a supporting element came about because I had numerous elk antler laying around doing nothing, or so I thought. Enter the Creative Spirit, who challenged me to create an interlocking puzzle of antler. A few came together easily, some never do, but when a set does come together it is really amazing to me. Funny, life gives me the same feeling at times.
I've recently moved to the Yukon Territory from Christina Lake, B.C. and have become involved with the Yukon Arts Society, the Yukon Humane Society as a volunteer and the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous as a Board member. I'm currently living and carving in Whitehorse, with plans to move to Lake Laberge in the near future.
I hope you enjoy my art as much as I have enjoyed creating it. Just a closing thought from me to you: "Anything and everything is possible - may the good spirits walk with you and the bad ones fall behind".