Articles on Canadian Craftsman Pierre LaChance
Born, and raised in Ottawa Ontario
Pierre has the Formula for Success.
Book Publications,Videos,Websites available online.
Artist issues charity challenge
The West Kelowna resident, who is a combination designer, wood craftsman and artist, recently received a Westbank Lions Good News bear. He decided to donate it to the food bank to be used as a fundraising prize. Then he added an intricately carved model truck and one of his personal pieces of local artwork.
"A third party who wants to remain anonymous gave me Ernie the bear from CHBC-TV's 1994 Good News campaign because I'm a Westbank Lion," he explained.
The food bank can raise money from the bear, wooden truck and framed artwork during one of its silent auctions next year, he suggested.
The bear has the international Lions crest on a distinctive cap and wears a Lions' green vest, blue pants, white shirt and tie. The model truck is adorned with stickers identifying it as a food bank vehicle.
"As a Lion, I serve my community to the best of my ability," said LaChance, who is mentally challenged. "I would like to challenge other local artisans to also come forward and donate a piece of theirs to the food bank in order to raise funds to help others that are less fortunate than us."
LaChance started wood carving at the age of 10 as therapy after a 1959 Plymouth ran over him while he was cycling at age seven.
His fascination with motor vehicles resulted in a series of wooden cars, trucks and motorcycles. He's done a 1996 Molson Indy replica car, for example, Evel Knievel's XR750 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and even a two-metre-long Spanish galleon.
"All that is being done for the food bank is very much appreciated by many, many people here on the Westside," said Gord Milsom, treasurer of the Westside Community Food Bank Society.
Hopefully, it encourages others to donate "and make Christmas that much merrier for many in our community," Milsom said.
Grant MacWilliam, interim food bank manager, thinks it could be a major fundraiser.
"It's something we've never done," he said. "Hopefully, it's a big success."
LaChance's challenge inspired West Kelowna painter Sandra Anne Kessler to donate a large oil painting she named Le Cafe. Her rendition of the restaurant in the National Arts Centre was completed in three months from the vantage point of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
"It has been in various exhibits, and I hope it finds a good home," said Kessler, who started painting at the age of 12.
"I'm so glad you've done this because I had wanted to do something like this too," she told LaChance. "I thought: do I have the energy to bring something like this together?"
The food bank has been busy, with its last hampers going out Tuesday. In all, more than 250 hampers went out this week, slightly less than last Christmas. About 130 hampers went to one- or two-person households, and the rest went to families. The food bank supported 267 family members in November, 100 of those children, said MacWilliam.
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THE KELOWNA FOOD BANK COMMUNITY ART PROJECT.
PIERRE and MARK MARCH 2012
===============NEWS PAPER ARTICLES============
Wood sculptor gives gifts to kids
By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News - December 23, 2007
Wooden bike… He pieces together the wooden replica of Evel Knievel’s XR 750 motorbike. He has had a photo of the wooden bike turned into posters, which will be distributed as gifts to patients at Sunny Hills Health Center for Children in Vancouver—a division of B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Jason Luciw/Capital News
Pierre LaChance stands proudly next to the wooden replica of Evel Knievel’s XR 750, which he’s created as part of his ongoing therapy.
The motorcycle is carefully assembled in LaChance’s Westside workshop ready for its latest photo shoot.
Each piece of the bike is made from scraps of donated wood—mostly maple, walnut and oak.
“See, it even has shocks,” he says with enthusiasm.
The shocks are the only metal on the whole replica.
The spokes, handle bars, exhaust and motor are all wood.
The Evel Knievel bike isn’t the only replica he’s done. His blog site shows the race car he carved for Vancouver’s Molson Indy. Visit www.pierrelachance.blogspot.com.
Like the race car, photos of the bike are now on posters that will be sent to patients at Sunny Hills Health Center for Children—part of B.C. Children’s Hospital that specifically serves kids with disabilities. “I’ve been donating to Sunny Hills since 1994,” says LaChance. “I was a patient there when I was young because of a car accident—I was on my bike and I crossed the road and was run over by a car. I am in therapy still because of the accident.”
The wood work has been part of his therapy for many years, he says. The posters of the wooden bike need to be sent to the kids, says LaChance.
It’s too late for Christmas, but the gifts can be used for birthdays and events throughout the year, says Sunny Hills spokeswoman Sheila Kennedy. If a donor is able to pay to ship the materials, contact LaChance through his blog site.
Agassiz Observer
Agassiz carver's work has Horsepower
James Baxter/Observer Pierre LaChance at his Agassiz workshop.By James Baxter Observer Mar 09 2005 Agassiz wood carver Pierre LaChance is putting the final touches on an oak motorcycle he is building for legendary daredevil Evel Knievel.The bike, a faithful replica of Knievel's gravity-defying Harley Davidson XR750, has been meticulously fashioned, piece-by-piece, over 100 hours, according to Lachance, who has also carved himself a reputation as a leader in wooden automotive crafts. He began work on the Knievel bike last year as a trade for the stuntman's endorsement of LaChance's website, which is dedicated to the auto thrill show business. The carver's father was a friend and employee of Knievel's."Also, I am doing it for the honor I have for Evel Knievel and the past [when] my dad worked for him," he said. "I feel I am carrying the torch in the auto thrill show business. The old man was a racing car driver and stunt driver, and - I was the model maker and the trophy maker for the drivers."LaChance says he is also set to display a few of his nearly 14,000 pieces at the local library. The featured item will be a Molson Indy car he carved in 1995 in connection with the Vancouver race. It will be joined, he says, by "what I can fit in the case."LaChance works from a small shop in Agassiz, where several of his replica cars, trucks and motorcycles rest bumper to wheel on counter space around his worktable. He says he has been carving for nearly 35 years, a hobby he developed when he was sidelined by an injury at age 10."[I] learned a lot from my grandpa as far as woodworking," he explains. "He was a furniture maker and also did small renovations. By the age of - 13 or 14 I had a whole bunch of models, all wood, [and] then I got into more technical stuff - precision autos like Porsches, Bentleys, Jaguars and 4x4s."Then I would get into building custom bikes like Harley s and BSAs, and tow trucks, monster trucks, logging trucks and fire trucks."LaChance says he enjoys the challenge of turning pieces of wood, some thrown on the scrap heap, into recognizable, detailed vehicles. He also recognizes that his is a unique craft."When I started getting into making wooden objects, I was very unique because not too many people have the patience to do it and there are not very many people who can do it," he said. I have become a category of my own."He says he most enjoys the challenge of fashioned a three-dimensional object from images in photographs, or from his own memory. Many of his pieces have been given away or donated to children at Christmas."It's not like I have a model beside me which I am copying, he said. "I am working from photographs. I transfer the raw material into what you see."LaChance's on-line gallery can be viewed at: http://www.pierrelachance.blogspot.com/ © Copyright 2005 Agassiz Observer / Pierre LaChance Productions
Born, and raised in Ottawa Ontario
Pierre has the Formula for Success.
Book Publications,Videos,Websites available online.
Artist issues charity challenge
FRIDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2012 18:00 J.P. SQUIRE
Pierre LaChance is challenging other artists to donate some of their work to the Westside Community Food Bank.
The West Kelowna resident, who is a combination designer, wood craftsman and artist, recently received a Westbank Lions Good News bear. He decided to donate it to the food bank to be used as a fundraising prize. Then he added an intricately carved model truck and one of his personal pieces of local artwork.
"A third party who wants to remain anonymous gave me Ernie the bear from CHBC-TV's 1994 Good News campaign because I'm a Westbank Lion," he explained.
The food bank can raise money from the bear, wooden truck and framed artwork during one of its silent auctions next year, he suggested.
The bear has the international Lions crest on a distinctive cap and wears a Lions' green vest, blue pants, white shirt and tie. The model truck is adorned with stickers identifying it as a food bank vehicle.
"As a Lion, I serve my community to the best of my ability," said LaChance, who is mentally challenged. "I would like to challenge other local artisans to also come forward and donate a piece of theirs to the food bank in order to raise funds to help others that are less fortunate than us."
LaChance started wood carving at the age of 10 as therapy after a 1959 Plymouth ran over him while he was cycling at age seven.
His fascination with motor vehicles resulted in a series of wooden cars, trucks and motorcycles. He's done a 1996 Molson Indy replica car, for example, Evel Knievel's XR750 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and even a two-metre-long Spanish galleon.
"All that is being done for the food bank is very much appreciated by many, many people here on the Westside," said Gord Milsom, treasurer of the Westside Community Food Bank Society.
Hopefully, it encourages others to donate "and make Christmas that much merrier for many in our community," Milsom said.
Grant MacWilliam, interim food bank manager, thinks it could be a major fundraiser.
"It's something we've never done," he said. "Hopefully, it's a big success."
LaChance's challenge inspired West Kelowna painter Sandra Anne Kessler to donate a large oil painting she named Le Cafe. Her rendition of the restaurant in the National Arts Centre was completed in three months from the vantage point of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
"It has been in various exhibits, and I hope it finds a good home," said Kessler, who started painting at the age of 12.
"I'm so glad you've done this because I had wanted to do something like this too," she told LaChance. "I thought: do I have the energy to bring something like this together?"
The food bank has been busy, with its last hampers going out Tuesday. In all, more than 250 hampers went out this week, slightly less than last Christmas. About 130 hampers went to one- or two-person households, and the rest went to families. The food bank supported 267 family members in November, 100 of those children, said MacWilliam.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE KELOWNA FOOD BANK COMMUNITY ART PROJECT.
===============NEWS PAPER ARTICLES============
Wood sculptor gives gifts to kids
By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News - December 23, 2007
Wooden bike… He pieces together the wooden replica of Evel Knievel’s XR 750 motorbike. He has had a photo of the wooden bike turned into posters, which will be distributed as gifts to patients at Sunny Hills Health Center for Children in Vancouver—a division of B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Jason Luciw/Capital News
Pierre LaChance stands proudly next to the wooden replica of Evel Knievel’s XR 750, which he’s created as part of his ongoing therapy.
The motorcycle is carefully assembled in LaChance’s Westside workshop ready for its latest photo shoot.
Each piece of the bike is made from scraps of donated wood—mostly maple, walnut and oak.
“See, it even has shocks,” he says with enthusiasm.
The shocks are the only metal on the whole replica.
The spokes, handle bars, exhaust and motor are all wood.
The Evel Knievel bike isn’t the only replica he’s done. His blog site shows the race car he carved for Vancouver’s Molson Indy. Visit www.pierrelachance.blogspot.com.
Like the race car, photos of the bike are now on posters that will be sent to patients at Sunny Hills Health Center for Children—part of B.C. Children’s Hospital that specifically serves kids with disabilities. “I’ve been donating to Sunny Hills since 1994,” says LaChance. “I was a patient there when I was young because of a car accident—I was on my bike and I crossed the road and was run over by a car. I am in therapy still because of the accident.”
The wood work has been part of his therapy for many years, he says. The posters of the wooden bike need to be sent to the kids, says LaChance.
It’s too late for Christmas, but the gifts can be used for birthdays and events throughout the year, says Sunny Hills spokeswoman Sheila Kennedy. If a donor is able to pay to ship the materials, contact LaChance through his blog site.
Agassiz Observer
Agassiz carver's work has Horsepower
James Baxter/Observer Pierre LaChance at his Agassiz workshop.By James Baxter Observer Mar 09 2005 Agassiz wood carver Pierre LaChance is putting the final touches on an oak motorcycle he is building for legendary daredevil Evel Knievel.The bike, a faithful replica of Knievel's gravity-defying Harley Davidson XR750, has been meticulously fashioned, piece-by-piece, over 100 hours, according to Lachance, who has also carved himself a reputation as a leader in wooden automotive crafts. He began work on the Knievel bike last year as a trade for the stuntman's endorsement of LaChance's website, which is dedicated to the auto thrill show business. The carver's father was a friend and employee of Knievel's."Also, I am doing it for the honor I have for Evel Knievel and the past [when] my dad worked for him," he said. "I feel I am carrying the torch in the auto thrill show business. The old man was a racing car driver and stunt driver, and - I was the model maker and the trophy maker for the drivers."LaChance says he is also set to display a few of his nearly 14,000 pieces at the local library. The featured item will be a Molson Indy car he carved in 1995 in connection with the Vancouver race. It will be joined, he says, by "what I can fit in the case."LaChance works from a small shop in Agassiz, where several of his replica cars, trucks and motorcycles rest bumper to wheel on counter space around his worktable. He says he has been carving for nearly 35 years, a hobby he developed when he was sidelined by an injury at age 10."[I] learned a lot from my grandpa as far as woodworking," he explains. "He was a furniture maker and also did small renovations. By the age of - 13 or 14 I had a whole bunch of models, all wood, [and] then I got into more technical stuff - precision autos like Porsches, Bentleys, Jaguars and 4x4s."Then I would get into building custom bikes like Harley s and BSAs, and tow trucks, monster trucks, logging trucks and fire trucks."LaChance says he enjoys the challenge of turning pieces of wood, some thrown on the scrap heap, into recognizable, detailed vehicles. He also recognizes that his is a unique craft."When I started getting into making wooden objects, I was very unique because not too many people have the patience to do it and there are not very many people who can do it," he said. I have become a category of my own."He says he most enjoys the challenge of fashioned a three-dimensional object from images in photographs, or from his own memory. Many of his pieces have been given away or donated to children at Christmas."It's not like I have a model beside me which I am copying, he said. "I am working from photographs. I transfer the raw material into what you see."LaChance's on-line gallery can be viewed at: http://www.pierrelachance.blogspot.com/ © Copyright 2005 Agassiz Observer / Pierre LaChance Productions
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