From the first glance of his soon-to-be gallery and studio, Barre Pinske is not what you would call your prototypical artist. What started out over 20 years ago as a modest chainsaw carving hobby has blossomed into a well-rounded career for the professional artist and gallery owner.
Pinske recently bought a commercial property near the Chester Depot and is converting the new space into The Illana Joffrey Fine Arts & High Craft gallery. “I just really like the sound of the name,” he said.
“I found out about the space through a friend and moved in about six months ago,” Pinske said. “I hope to have the gallery opened to the public by the late spring or early summer.”
Originally from Minnesota, Pinske's carving interested began with knives and chisels, before evolving into using a chain saw to carve larger art work from tree trunks.
“I had gone with my family to a lumberjack show in Hayward, Wis. I was only carving with knives and chisels at the time,” Pinske said. “I saw a flier there about a chain saw carver and started doing it myself. Mostly carving objects out of large trees that were left for dead.”
As Pinske's craft evolved, he began demonstrating at various fairs, festivals, and chain-saw carving contests.
Pinske also began performing at lumberjack shows. “In my early 20s I traveled with the Scheers Lumberjack Show of Champions. I met a lot of great people and had a great time traveling around the country and performing.”
Pinske would go on to win several chain saw competitions, including the Chain Saw Carving World Championships at age 24.
After doing traveling shows for a time, Pinske co-opened his first gallery on Cape Cod called The Giving Tree, before opening a second gallery on the Cape with a friend.
“He was a silent partner, and was a great help to me early in my career,” Pinske added.
“Then my business partner got married and pursued different interests, so that's when I moved to New Bedford in 2001 and set up shop at a textile mill space.
“I opened a gallery there with a local guy named Barry Wing , who was interested in the arts and the city's progress. I ran that gallery for a few years.”
In 2004 Pinske developed the concept for The Illana Joffrey Fine Arts & High Craft, a salable gallery business and Web site, but needed the right space to develop his concept.
“I had been looking for a suitable place for three years, a live-work-sell space, in order to open up the Illana Joffrey Gallery,” Pinske stated.
“During the summer of 2005 I rented a small space in New Hampshire I called the Art Shack, but found the location to be a bit too seasonal. However, now I have found this great space in Chester and look forward to a great future here.”
Diverse sculpture
Over the years Pinske's artistic endeavors have broadened beyond simply chain saw carving to include other forms of sculpture, painting and “funky furniture” as Barre likes to call it.
“I look at my career as evolving from a circus to the theater,” Pinske added. “Beginning with traveling shows in which the creative process and the show was as interesting as the artwork, to now owning my own galleries where the art itself is definitely the most important aspect.”
Some of Pinske's high-profile clients include Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and all the members of the legendary rock band Aerosmith, as well as musicians Prince and Barry Manilow and former New York City mayor Ed Koch.
“I met Steven T. at a Boston flower show where I had a space set up to show my work,” Pinske added. “All the members of Aerosmith have my work now. I worked for Steven pretty regularly for 12 years and he owns roughly 30 of my pieces. I even built a slide in his house!”
Music icon Prince was also presented with a piece of Pinske artwork from the Minneapolis Motion Picture and Film Board.
“I was in Prince's recording studio watching him perform for the Grammys some 20 years ago,” Pinske added. “That was a lot of fun.”
Pinske now looks ahead to the new Illana Joffrey Fine Arts & High Craft gallery opening (as well as other projects) with the intent to open a quality gallery that will be separate from his working studio.
“I have a lot of great ideas in the works, including a future carving contest here in Chester in which I will also display and demonstrate my hydraulic power units and saws," Pinske said.
“Along with my art, I love the outdoors and winter sports, so I feel I have found a great home here and look forward to all my artistic adventures ahead,” he said. “This is a perfect setting for me.”