Chris Rust: Carver of the Whimsical, Wild and Wonderful

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Chris Rust is a wood carver. A sculptor. An artist. A visionary. Rust can look at a tree stump, and a canvas is born. Using his chainsaw, Rust, of Fort Thomas, has created dozens upon dozens of unique pieces of art that dot our community and beyond. He’s created pieces for personal homes and gardens, and his work has been seen at art shows and demonstrations, including at the Behringer-Crawford Museum’s Fresh Art, Art After Hours at the Carrico Branch of the Campbell County Public Library (home to the alien bench he created), and more. In the winter, you can watch him in action at the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt adjacent to the Moerlein Lager House.

Around town, you’ll see his work in Tower Park, Highland Hills Park, and Campbell County Extension Office in Highland Heights. It is in these gardens that walkers can embrace both nature and art.   Rust’s works are currently in 13 states and 4 countries.

I sat down with Rust one afternoon at Fort Thomas Coffee. Rust, who recently retired after a decades-long career with the Fort Thomas Fire Department, and his wife, Stacey, have long lived in Fort Thomas, where they raised their three sons.

“So many people recognized me as a fireman, and now many recognize me as a chainsaw artist”, shared Rust.

Rust shared that he’d always been an artist, and many in his family are artists too. His imagination, coupled with his chainsaw, create masterpieces that are sometimes whimsical, often reflect nature, and tell stories. 

His first carving was a gift for his mom, who had seen a carved bear in Gatlinburg and asked Rust to make one for her. “My mom and sisters went to Gatlinburg; my mom asked me to carve her a bear. She went out and bought me a Sears Craftsman chainsaw, and I carved a bear.”  Rust continued to create art, including the carvings in Highland Hills Park, an area of personal meaning to him as the 77-acre space is used by many and was carefully designed to enhance and protect nature. Here, you can find aliens, a carved owl, a squirrel, and more.

Soon after, his first commission was for a St. Francis statue, which he made in two days. Since then, his commissions have grown. In 2020, he launched his woodcarvings as an official business, C R Carving.  During the lockdown, “People would walk our street and come by my house and see me carving outside, I’d look up, and an entire family would be there.” Joking, he adds, “Of course, having a chainsaw in my hand encouraged social distancing.”

How many hours does it take to create a carving? “I used to track that, but it takes away from the process.” Adding, “It’s not the hours I put into it, it restricts what I am doing, I just go at it. I let the shape of the wood and the woodgrain, the knots, direct me and where I’m going. I’ll have an idea of what I’m going to do, and the majority of the time it turns out better than I anticipated.” 

It’s complex work. “For a recent piece in Indian Hill, my biggest piece yet, I needed twenty feet of scaffolding.”  He enjoys sharing his art with others and has worked with local classes as they’ve explored trails at Highland Hills Park.

With the help of an arborist, Rust repurposes downed trees into wonderful creations. Often, he utilizes felled or damaged trees at his client’s properties for their personalized commissions. “Leftover nails, holes, grain, it all adds to the uniqueness of the piece.”

At Lakeside Commons (at the corner of Alexandria Pike and Martha Layne Collins Blvd.), you can view his Mother Nature wood carving, created on site in 2022. This work features numerous animals including a bear, bobcat, snake, fox, a squirrel, and more. During the creation of this work, Rust was visited by a cardinal that first flew up to Rust and then watched him for some time, so he incorporated his new feathered friend into the design. Another animal was up to mischief during the creation of Mother Nature, it was a raccoon stuck on a light pole along U.S. 27. Getting his fifteen minutes of fame in the local news, he eventually left on his own. Rust included a raccoon inspired by this event. And Mother Nature, well, she’s reaching toward the sky as she feeds a woodpecker (a bit more humor), telling us that we are all part of this planet and we each have our role.  It’s truly whimsical, wild, and wonderful. 

To learn more about Rust and his creations, follow him on Facebook or visit his website crcarving.com.