Scotty Gagnon carefully drew the chainsaw blade across a large block of ice and flicked away frosty shavings. He’s carved many things, but this wasn’t his average project.
“I’ve never worked with ice before,” he said. “This is fun.”
It’s been a journey for the 44-year-old Presque Isle artist, who only got into chainsaw carving about two years ago. Once addicted to alcohol and drugs, he knew he wanted a different life. There are other chainsaw sculptors from Houlton through southern Maine, but Gagnon has opened what he thinks may be central Aroostook County’s only chainsaw art business.
“I’m just here to remind everybody that they can do something with their lives,” he said. “You can do a lot more than you think you’re capable of.”
Gagnon has long been an artist. He started out drawing charcoal portraits as a teenager, and his talent drew attention.
He started a portrait business in his 20s called Lasting Impressions. But with a full-time job and no knowledge of how to run a business, he couldn’t handle it properly. His passion had become a burden, he said. Giving it up broke his heart.
Gagnon is open about his challenges. His social life once revolved around alcohol and drugs. His work suffered, as did his confidence in himself. At his lowest, he started losing friends, and that proved to be the turning point.
“I started seeing a lot of my friends die,” he said. “Some people say you need to move away from your trouble, but running away is another ‘easy button.’ I chose to stay [in Presque Isle] and work on me.”
To turn his life around, he gave up the habits that haunted him. He sought help. He talked to people. He stayed with family for a while. He drew strength from his faith in God. Changing his mindset was key, he said.
He focused on his art, from whittling and wood carving to painting.
He had seen chainsaw carving and was intrigued, but didn’t have a saw or the money to buy one. One day, a friend brought him a chainsaw, expressing hope that Gagnon would make art with it.
That’s where his friend Buddy Collins came in. Collins, who owns Installations Unlimited in Presque Isle, also runs the nonprofit North Star Motorsports of Ashland, which hosts dirt bike and snowmobile races.
For the dirt bike venue, Collins bought a piece of land where an old mill once stood, which was covered with a huge decades-old sawdust pit. Buried in the chaff were several old logs, one of them about 17 feet long. He reached out to Gagnon.
The log was so big he couldn’t get his arms around it, Gagnon said. It was his first time crafting on site. He carved the venue’s name, “The Sawdust Pit,” into the log. People crowded around and kids wanted to help, so he shut off the machinery and gave them sandpaper.
The positive energy he received that day led Gagnon to reopen Lasting Impressions, he said. Another employee handles the business side of things, while he creates. He does pieces from his own inspiration, and also by request.
That sign is his largest piece to date, but he’s carved a variety of others, from small mushrooms and gnomes, to snowmen and bears, to an 8-foot-tall Bigfoot for a camp owner in the North Maine Woods.
He describes his style as rustic.
“I’m a rough-around-the-edges kind of guy, so my art is like that,” Gagnon said. “It’s kind of quirky. You’re not going to find it at Walmart.”
When starting a new creation, he first gets a feel for the wood. He’ll stare at it, touch it, even smell it, he said. He’ll carve a few lines. Sometimes he knows what he’ll make, and other times it takes shape as he goes.
Standing in a cold shipping trailer surrounded by blocks of ice, he fires up the chainsaw. As far as he and Collins know, he’s the only ice sculptor in northern Maine. Collins got him started on that, too.
The pieces, including multiple trophies, would go to Arnold Brook Lake in Presque Isle on Saturday for the North Star Motorsports Star City 100, the first snowmobile race event in the New England Championship series, Collins said. Other races are in Rangeley, Lincoln, Portage Lake and Long Lake.
“It’s winter racing, so ice was appropriate,” Collins said. “I wanted the trophies to be made with ice, and nobody here carves ice.”
They’ll melt, of course, but they’ll make an impression, he said. The special carving ice was shipped in from Massachusetts. So far, Gagnon has carved nearly 1,000 pounds of ice, Collins said on North Star’s Facebook page.
As work lights shone through the glass-clear ice, Gagnon fashioned the arms of a trophy with chainsaw, chisels and scrapers.
Though he still has some down days, they’re much less frequent. Thanks to being open about his struggles, his dream of using his art as a means of healing has taken off. And he’s in awe of the positive community response, he said.
“I’ve had strangers come up and give me a hug and tell me I’m an inspiration to them,” he said, shaking his head. “I love this little dream.”
