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. [4] To find you very own copy of Louisville Magazine, click here. [5]