River Bend Carving Club
The "River Bend Carving Club" was founded in 1980 In Racine, WI as the "Wildlife Carving Club" and its purpose is to promote “the art of woodcarving”. The club has about 30 members from Milwaukee to Northern IL. We participate in several art & crafts show including the one held at Hawthorn Hollow on Green Bay Road in Somers,WI, near UW Parkside. Our meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Tuesday of each month at River Bend Nature Center, 3600 N. Green Bay Rd., Racine, WI 53404. There are generally about 15 - 25 attendees at the meeting. The routine for the meetings is to have a carving session starting at 6:00, a business meeting at 7:00, refreshment break and then a demonstration if scheduled. If there is no scheduled demo, we have a kind of “Social Hour” and usually break up around 8:30 - 9:00. Guests are welcome at the meetings.
We also have a Christmas Dinner and a Summer Picnic for the members and their families. Members bring a dish to pass and the club picks up the coffee/soda and the entree. A change in the past few years has been to have the Christmas dinner catered with the club picking up part of the tab. Besides the help from the other members, one of the big advantages of membership is the use of the club library. Over 225 pattern & reference books, mostly on wildlife (Yes, we do have a few on Santa’s too); over 40 video tapes on carving, painting & reference; a large collection of Wildfowl Carving & Collecting, Woodcarving Illustrated & bird reference magazines as well as lots of study birds, ducks, fish, bills & feet. Carving classes are held for members every so often. The last one was on carving an Owl and plans are in progress for sessions on carving a tropical fish and an antique decoy.
Membership fees are $20.00/year. The club year runs from Jan 1 - Dec 31. The first years dues are pro-rated depending on when you sign up.
