Chainsaw artist Marshall Lambert has created three new wood carvings for the play area in Wanstead Park, a place he used to visit as a child. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson
I was born in the East End some 60-odd years ago, and as an urban kid, I found the parks and green spaces I fell in love with offered an entirely different playground to my usual surroundings.
Many years later, just as the new millennium dawned, I found myself mooching around Hainault Forest and happened across a guy carving the woodhenge that was to be placed around the forest for people to find as they explored the woods. He had started the project carving the life cycle of a frog, and although it was rough cut and nowhere near finished, I was very impressed with his work. In conversation with the artist, he suggested I could carve if I chose to. But my thinking at that time told me I couldn’t do such an artistic thing. Plus, how could I afford tools? So, that was that.
Roll on 2014 when, by chance, en route from a family visit to a volunteer group at Audley End House, I saw Andy Butcher’s version of the Tiki head theme. Once again, I was impressed with this guy’s work: carvings made on seven-foot-tall logs. Long story short, I saved up and purchased one, which is still in my workshop today. From there, we struck up a friendship and I was encouraged by him to have a go. This time, the ‘I can’t’ thoughts were silenced.
I got a second-hand Sthil, a little domestic chainsaw that was perfect for the job, and a cheap grinder. I had begun. Later that year, I moved into a small woodland to get closer to the wood resource I was working with. Rough living, but I enjoyed it. Then, after a couple of years selling my bits roadside and to the odd person here and there (these small sales encouraged me to keep at it), I got my first project, which was to carve a 12-foot standing tree trunk in a local school. That project was well received and word soon got around. After that, I was asked to carve a fallen tree in Henry Reynolds Park for a natural play area. Then other projects came along, in Valentines Park, Lodge Farm Park and Raphael Park to mention a few. And then carving for a 12-piece animal sculpture trail in Highams Park, partly funded by the Arts Council. This was a fantastic boost for me.
Around March 2022, I was asked to carve some pieces for another natural play project in Wanstead Park, and in July 2023, I found myself carving in the park I used to roam as a young child. Mad how life twists and turns, eh? I feel chuffed that my work is so well received.
A big thank you to all those who have aided and assisted me – past and present – to allow me to get my art out there.
To see more of Marshall’s chainsaw art, visit wnstd.com/marshall
