A work from the heart

By JEANNE MAY

Free Press Staff Writer

Emil Szkipala - chain-saw artist and woodworker extraordinaire - has turned the 800-pound trunk of a fallen elm tree into a replica of the Stanley Cup. He has it chained to a trailer attached to his van.

"I was driving down Jefferson with it, and everyone blew their horns and went like this," he said Roseville last week as he gave a thumbs-up sign. He carved almost all of the cup with a chain saw. "I even put the writing on with the chain saw - very carefully," he said. Only small details at the top of the cup were done with a chisel. Szkipala, 33, learned woodworking in the Old World, and he's made it his profession in the New World with his shop, the Chainsaw Men of Michigan, at his home. While he studied carpentry, wood carving and art in his native Romania, he dreamed of escaping communism and coming to America. "I see in the movies the country is beautiful, in)(] you can do anything you like," he said. He tried to leave Romania legally in 1984, was rejected, then sneaked out. He was caught, beaten and jailed for a year.

Eventually, he stole - "You can put it 'borrowed,"' he said - another man's passport and managed to cross two borders to what was then Czechoslovakia. Another "borrowed" passport, and he made it to Austria and a refugee camp, where he was accepted for immigration to the United States.

He arrived in Detroit in 1991 knowing two words of English: "I'm hungry."

"After five months I had a driver's license, a car, a job and an apartment, and I started living a normal American life," he said, "Free!"

Last year he became a U.S. citizen

With his chain saw he transforms old tree trunks in people's yards into works of art. 'Me cost runs from $400 to $8,500.

He also carves intricate altars and lecterns for churches, including the new altar at St. Mary's in Greektown. 'Mat kind of work runs into thousands of dollars.

But the Stanley Cup carving is a work of the heart.

A downtown Detroit restaurant is trying to find a space large enough to display it - and Szkipala is ready to give it away.

"I would donate it to the city if they'd make a nice platform for it," be said.

"It's a nice city, Detroit, and it's coming back together again."

Carver's work shows how deft a touch he has with chain saw

By Tom Willard
Daily Tribune Staff Writer

MADISON HEIGHTS - When a poplar tree at the Madison Heights Nature Center was felled by old age recently, parks and recreation officials were stumped over what to do with a 15-foot section of trunk remaining in the ground.

Then they met Emil Szkipala, who proved that beauty can emerge from the most unexpected places. Last weekend. Szkipada used an assortment of chain saws to transform the 24-inch diameter trunk into an elaborate carving that greets visitors entering the parking lot of the center, on Hales south of 13 Mile.

"I think it's the nicest thing that can be," Szkipala said of the wooded setting for his artwork, which he completed Monday. 'A lot of people are going to walk by and see it, and like it."

Szkipala started woodcarving 18 years ago in his native Romania, where he studied carpentry and fine arts and founded an art school before making a desperate bid to flee the country

As a teen-ager he was beaten and jailed for six months when Romanian soldiers caught him trying to cross the border After serving in the Army himself, he used stolen and borrowed passports to escape to an Austrian refugee camp, where he lived for a year and a half before a New York agency helped him immigrate to the United States as a political exile in 1991.

Szkipala, who had plied his trade using chisels and other hand tools - he specializes in creating wood carved altars and dabbles in antique restoration, fireplace mantles and custom frames - went into business with a man who introduced him to the surprising precision of a chain saw.

His partner since retired, Szkipala currently does about 100 tree carvings a year, mostly for golf courses and public parks. He has rendered eagles, gnomes. dolphins - even a 6-foot Stanley Cup - each with the same intricate detail that leaves customers astounded.

"He's incredible to watch." said Carver

Madison Heights Recreation Director Jenny Martin, who noted proceeds from a city golf outing would be used to finance the $2,000 artwork.

The totem pole-like sculpture depicts some of the wildlife that inhabits the nature center woods - raccoons, a squirrel, rabbit and horned owl - along with cattails sprouting from the base.

Visitors and volunteers at the center have marveled at the work, some even taking photos and videotaping its progress.

"Personally, I think he has done a nice job incorporating some of the natural features here at the nature center. I definitely think it will help guide people in and set the tone as they (enter)," said naturalist Michelle Hobig. "It was neat to see that stuff literally emerge from the wood."

Dead trees and stumps are woodcarver's canvas

Chainsaw Man transforms ordinary into art

By Shantee Woodards
The Detroit News

ROCKWOOD - Milan Emil Szkipala is an artist without paint or drawing pencil.

He wields a chainsaw and trees are his canvas.

The Chainsaw Man of Michigan has made five carvings with several more planned at the Woodside Village apartment complex on Woodruff in Rockwood. The latest, that of an eagle, was sculpted into an oak tree on the property.

Szkipala has been transforming dead trees and tree ,stumps into works of art for the past seven years. Ile has carved objects like squirrels, dolphins and anchors. But on a much larger scale, he has transformed one tree in New Jersey into a sculpture of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the star's wife, Maria Shriver, and LWO maidens.

"He's quite the artist," said Harold Couch, owner of Woodside Village. "These trees were big oaks that died. But I don't want to cut down one tree if it's going to live."

Since it is outdoor work, Szkipala does the tree carvings in the summer. During the winter, he sets his chainsaw aside for a smaller tool...his chisel.

Szkipala trained as a mechanic in his native Romania. He soon changed his mind and switched careers when he learned about wood carving. Szkipala later earned a degree in the art form.

At 18, Szkipala decided he could have a better life in America. He tried to leave Romania without a passport in 1984, but was caught 200 meters from the Yugoslavian border. He spent one year in jail, but would not be deterred.

He tried a second time and fled to Czechoslovakia with a stolen passport. Eventually, He

landed in an Austrian refugee camp, where he applied for entry to the United States.

After another %,car, Szkipala was allowed to make the voy age overseas. He arrived in the United States in 1991

"I always knew there were better opportunities in this country than in all the Communist countries," said Szkipala, 35, of Roseville. "(In Romania), if you have a good profession they want Von to stay over there."

What's it worth Milan Emil Szkipala's most expensive carving project was for $13,000 in Rochester Hills. Carvings start at $400, Szkipala, also known as the Chainsaw Man of Michigan, said.

After several wood carving jobs around Metro Detroit, Szkipala met the original Chainsaw, Man in 1993. Kenneth Bushell had heard about Szkipala's work and wanted him to work for hini. Boshell taught Szkipala how to use at chainsaw

"I got used to it very quickly," Szkipala said, "Now I love them. I can run a chainsaw, with my, eyes closed."

Last year, Bushell retired and moved to California. lie left Szkipala with the business and the Chainsaw Man title.

"I'm happy with what I'm doing," Szkipala said. "It's a very dirty job, but I love it and I have to do it."

Kenneth Boshell:
Carved niche with his wooden art

By BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Trading in a butcher's knife for a chisel didn't cut it, so Kenneth Boshell picked up a chain saw and began creating wooden works of art.

Soon, his wooden animals, caricatures and totem poles began popping up around the Detroit area, and Mr. Boshell's business spread by what he called "treemendous word of mouth."

Carving with his chain saw, he often dressed like Paul Bunyan, wearing bright orange suspenders, a plaid shirt and skullcap.

"In today's economy, you have to market yourself," Mr. Boshell told the Free Press in 1983.

The butcher-turned-wood sculptor died Tuesday of a heart attack at the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch in Death Valley, Calif, where he lived for the past year. He was 62.

"I think those chain saws destroyed him," said Mr. Boshell's former partner, Emit Szkipala. "A lot of saw dust and a lot of fumes." Born in Detroit, Mr. Boshell quit a $5 an-hour job as a butcher in 1970 and began carving Hawaiian tiki gods using a railroad tie and a chisel. Art-fair customers bought them, he said, because they were "the ugliest things they had ever seen."

Soon, he switched to the chain saw and his business, Creative Tree-tments flourished. Early in the 1990s, he partnered up with Szkipala and they were known as the Chainsaw Men of Michigan.

"He taught me how to start a chain saw," Szkipala said. "He was like a father to me."

Mr. Boshell created replicas of the Vernors gnome, Mickey Mouse, the Road Runner. He also carved parrots, horses, pelicans and seagulls. He once created a sculpture that was purchased by the Pensacola, Fla., Golf Association as a gift to Bob Hope, Szkipala said. "Have stump, will travel" was his motto, as he carved out images in elm trees all over Detroit's east side. The trees fell victim to Dutch elm disease during the 1980s. He quit working last year and moved to California due to health problems, said his wife, Noralee Boshell. "He really missed it, too," she said, referring to Mr. Boshell's job. "But he had heart problems and arthritis in his joints." Other survivors include a son, John Boshell; a brother; two sisters, and two grandchildren. Memorial services are pending in Death Valley, Calif.