Nile Sawyer is a simple man. His art - whittling - is a simple art.
Since 1938, he has been carving objects, mostly chains, that tell a story or have significance to him or a family member.He takes a single piece of solid aspen and carves it into a work of art that has no glue or tricks. Each chain follows a simple premise: patience, patience, patience.
His art is rustic, perhaps a bit more honest and unpretentious than some, much as he's lived his life.
Sawyer will be 80 in May, but his hands don't show his age. Whittling, which he took up when he was 19, has kept his fingers spry.
Artists are often passionate people, and Sawyer is no different. He's loved at least three women in his life, and a wooden chain marks each of those commitments.
He`s carving a "love chain" for Violet, his wife. Each letter in her name is engraved on the links with a corresponding flower within each link.
Twice a widower, Sawyer made similar chains for each of his departed loves.
Each of his chains tells a story. Themes include the progress of transportation, an interest to Sawyer, who spent 22 years as an Air Force mechanic. Other ideas include a story about a man who started to gain his fortune with only a teapot; a cougar hunter; and, of course, Sawyer's life story - one that isn't finished yet.
Sawyer bought his whittling knife at a drugstore in Panguitch 60 years ago. He can`t remember what he paid, but does recall that things were hard to come by in those days of the Great Depression and after.
That's when he began his first project - a bracelet for his baby sister. The woman is now 57, and he still has that tiny trinket, although the clasp is broken. Its wood is darkened from a lifetime of handling, but it remains a precious reminder of how small the wrist was that wore it.
Sawyer tries to imagine what he'll whittle before he takes up the knife. Otherwise, there is no rendering or drawing before the wood shavings start to fall.
It`s just a way to "figure them out before I whittle," he says.
Sawyer's technique is contained in a small book he wrote a few years ago with a grant from the Utah Arts Council. It's called "Tom Sawyer Whittling."
He whittles only quaking aspen - a solid wood that is easy to whittle, green or dry.
Aside from his old pocket knife, Sawyer keeps a set of carving tools, but the old knife is a treasure to him. He altered the knife, as his book describes, to be able to carve out balls inside a cage and other characters, all from a single piece of wood.
It takes him about 50 hours to whittle a 2-foot chain, depending on its intricacy.
"I`m the best and only one who whittles and carves these kinds of chains," he says.
He hasn't been challenged on that point.