Intarsia is a labour of love for Brookdale man

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This article was published 24/08/2017 (2992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BROOKDALE — Gary Stevenson’s neighbours don’t understand why he spends hours a day fiddling with small pieces of wood.

“They think I’m nuts,” he said matter-of-factly from his workshop.

He not only fiddles with the various pieces of wood he sources for his elaborate pieces of art, but obsesses over every design. Each one usually takes hundreds of hours to complete — and he’s often too attached to his projects to sell them.

When he agrees to part with an intarsia design, he struggles to put down a price, resulting in a friendly back-and-forth where neither him nor the owner at Inspire Studio in Minnedosa wants to give his art a dollar figure.

Clearly, it’s not about the money for Stevenson, an 88-year-old happily spending hours a day with intarsia. It’s about the comfort and relaxation wood laying brings him.

“That and the challenge of doing something nice and something good and something worthwhile,” he shared.

Intarsia essentially involves creating a jigsaw puzzle using wood. The technique brings together varied shapes, sizes and species of wood fitted together to create a mosaic, often playing on the illusion of depth.

“Each piece has to be shaped precisely, has to be sanded,” he said.

Once assembled, the wood is glued and clamped together. The excess of the plywood backing cut away.

His talent is even more remarkable when considering his handicap.

“I’m almost completely colour blind, my wife chooses the colours,” he shares. “I go by her eyes.”

A dozen years ago, Stevenson took up intarsia when the former educator needed a new hobby. His home had no more room for the shaker furniture he was designing.

He hasn’t looked back.

“I like the challenge of doing something good, something nice and something worthwhile,” he said.

Art has long been a passion for Stevenson, though the form it’s taken has changed. He’s dabbled in a range of mediums from making cloth to designing oil paintings, cutting designs into a sheet of linoleum and building sculptures out of nails.

All those art forms take a back seat to intarsia, however.

“I’m into intarsia up to here,” he said, raising his arms above his head.

A long-time schoolteacher and assistant superintendent for an Ontario school division, Gary and his wife Anna moved to Alberta in the late 1980s to retire. They left a dozen years ago when their town near Calgary grew too fast for their liking.

“When we found this place, it was quiet, nice,” he said of Brookdale. “You can see the stars at night.”

After the military transferred their son, Gary and Anna stayed put.

They’re just fine here, where the health care is good, said Gary, who’s beaten cancer and is fighting diabetes.

His wife likes his intarsia since it “keeps me out of her hair,” her husband adds.

“My wife and I get along very well. We haven’t had our first argument yet,” he said adamantly, explaining they’ve had disagreements but always compromised before an argument might have taken hold. For the record: Anna couldn’t recall an argument when asked.

In intarsia, Gary’s created some 50 designs, 10 of which are repeats.

His work is hung up from British Columbia to New Brunswick. It’s held locally at Minnedosa’s Inspire Studio.

Each project normally takes a few months to complete. He spends a few hours a day working on it, except on weekends.

He doesn’t bother tallying his hours.

“Do you keep track of the amount of time you’re having fun?” he asks knowingly.

Considering his passion for intarsia, he doesn’t envision stopping his hobby anytime soon. It keeps him on his feet and working with his hands.

“At 88, there’s not a not a hell of a lot that I can expect to happen next,” he said, chuckling. “I’m just going to go on with what I’m doing.”

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