Photo by Chris Witzke
By: Jenny Kiefer
“My grandfather told me once to learn as many trades as I can and I’ll never be hungry,” Joe Autry says. For the past 20 years he’s been sculpting — metal, ice, wood. He has carved and stained dead tree trunks throughout the city, from Parkway Village to the Highlands and Prospect. “I think all sculptors should have a chainsaw in their toolbox,” he says. “It just makes sense: repurpose a tree instead of just grinding it up.” Autry uses a Husqvarna chainsaw to transform trees into a two-story red squid, a My Morning Jacket tribute with an owl and a green eye, a hexagonal hive with bees larger than your head. Wood stains turn dragon scales green. “I just moved to New Albany and bought a house and put a big fence up. I’m carving my fence — like a big fish, a lotus flower and other flowers. Quite beautiful, actually,” he says.
This originally appeared in the July 2016 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find you very own copy of Louisville Magazine, click here.
