Minn. man praised for woodwork in Norwegian art

By Alyssa Pederson, Winona Daily News

Winona, Minn. (AP) - It was just another day for Steve Speltz, building wood cabinets in his basement. But he was a bit behind on the job, and for some odd reason, he thought nothing of reaching for a piece of wood next to his saw. The quick decision nearly cost him his greatest gift: his fingers.

Stitches, pins, surgeries and therapy. Speltz worried he would never carve again.

That was 20 years ago. Today, Speltz is chiseling away at more wood than ever before. And he recently won top honors for a furniture piece he carved for the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, which is the largest, most comprehensive museum in the United States dedicated to a single immigrant group.

Funny thing is, Speltz isn't even Norwegian.

"Norway has this dedicated history to the arts, and I want to help them with that," he said. "Hopefully, we can help them expand it. I don't want to see (that history) lost. I cling to it."

His winning creation, "Donum Dei-God's Gifts," was a log chair called a Kubbestol, detailed with foliage ornamentation called acanthus. It took two years and about 470 hours to finish. Far from a short and simple process.

Speltz roughed out the log with a chain saw. He shaped the back of the stool, and let it dry for two years to keep the inside from splitting. He went back to the log with hand tools and chiseled away until it had even thickness. After 50 hours of smoothing, he carved a dedication to Mary, the mother of Jesus. And after 20 more hours of drawing and reworking, his first stool was finished.

"My faith was a result of this stool entirely," he said. "It's a very labor-intensive piece."

And it hardly went unrecognized. Speltz's creation was one of 144 submitted in the contest.

"A Kubbestol is in and of itself a lot of work," said one of the judges, Kim Glock. "The painting was tremendous. He did a beautiful job bringing all the elements together."

Speltz went to school for carpentry. Even as he worked as a professional cabinet and furniture builder, he labored over side projects in his basement, searching for his own artistic flair.

After his accident, he devoted himself to the artistic endeavors.

"(I thought) 'If I'm going to pursue this, I'm going to go full-time and do it right,"' he said. "I had too much invested. I just had to go that way."

Speltz and his wife have run a full-time business, Custom Hardwoods, for nearly 20 years. Along the way, Speltz has competed in several national competitions through the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.

Speltz said on average, carvers compete for 10 to 15 years before achieving a gold medal.

He did it in six.

"It was really hard to walk away from this piece," he said. "I just try to carve, and once I start to see it, I go after it."

---

Information from Winona Daily News

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)