Retired man’s hobby turns into profession

IZMIR

A retired man living in İzmir, Arif Uçar, who creates wood-carved works in his 35-square-meter workshop in İzmir, sells many of his works to Europe.

Uçar, 55, who started creating wood artworks as a hobby after his retirement, received training in this field and then turned his hobby into a profession. His works are now in high demand in Europe.

“When my works attracted attention, I turned them into commercial activities. This interest even spread abroad. Especially the helmets I produced were found very interesting,” he said.

It was Uçar’s childhood dream to learn about wood carving and he received training from master instructor Tahsin Güler at Çiğli Public Education Center for about two years after working in the private sector for many years.

After Güler's death, Uçar's training continued with his wood master brother, Aşır Güler. After a while, Uçar started to produce small works in a 35-square-meter workshop located under Güler's house. And over time, he improved himself in this field and began to create professional works.

Stating that he has been interested in wood carving for about five years, Uçar said, “There are many areas in wood carving such as relief, sculpture and semi-sculpture. I am mainly interested in three-dimensional sculpture or semi-sculpture. Apart from that, as an Aegean, as a sea lover, I try to carve the fish of the Aegean, and also Hellenistic and Roman-era helmets because of my interest in mythology.”

“Especially the helmets were found interesting. I have never seen a helmet made in wood carving. In fact, demands were not only for Hellenistic helmets, but also Viking helmets and Seljuk helmets,” he said.

Speaking about the making of helmets, which attract great attention especially from European countries, Uçar said, “First, I want to talk about the tree I used here. If you are making a sculpture, your tree must be dried first. Because after your work is finished, there may be cracks. That's why it is very important to choose a tree that has been rested for at least two or three years. Again, I prefer linden wood, which is more comfortable for carving. After having the linden tree, I draw the object I want to make by hand on the timber. After cutting, I start carving all the stages by hand with the chisels, mallet and tools that are used for carving. After carving and shaping it, I move on to fine motifs in the final stages. After completing the motifs, I rub it well and then paint it using madder or fabric dyes. After rubbing it again, French polish is applied approximately 15-20 times, sometimes even up to 30 layers. Finally, the work comes to life in about a month.”

Stating that interest in the art of wood carving decreased recently, Uçar said, “Wood carving is a very traditional art and craft of these lands. Unfortunately, with developing technologies, such arts are disappearing. But we open exhibitions to revive this art and to show them to new generations. We want young people to be interested in it, too.”