Paul Weaver Woodcarvings

Monday was our last day and we decided to stop back at some favorite spots. One thing led to another with no real plan. After stopping by the Millers one last time and Willis mentioning Noah Shetler's name again I decided we should stop back at Homestead furniture one more time. We had stopped there the week before but Noah had been gone mushroom hunting. I didn't expect he would remember me, I was one of thousands of customers who had bought furniture he made.
Noah was there this time, the first Monday he had worked in six weeks. He remembered Joe Mentor, the Menominee Amish furniture store owner we had first gone to Amland with.
He asked what I did, I told him I was a woodcarver. He showed me some pictures of commissioned work they had hired for custom furniture pieces they have done. He then asked if I had pictures of my work and soon the entire sales staff was squandering away the afternoon. Noah said that before I left town I really needed to see Paul Weaver's woodcarvings.
It was late afternoon but I'm always looking for ways to avoid the long drive home. Noah drew a map and off we went to a ramshackle shop out in the sticks. The shop looks like something built by the David Koresh followers. It is a large three story building that was never really finished and not designed so much as built with whatever could be found at surplus building materials. One item that must not have come up for sale was a door. I walked around three sides of the building facing the gravel road and couldn't find a place to knock. After a bit of bewilderment I heard a window open on the top floor of the compound and someone call down hello. Paul Weaver is Amish, but he also has electricity which is a little odd for the area. I'm not holding that against him, so I asked if he was Paul Weaver, he replied in the affirmative and asked if I was a woodcarver. After coming down to show me the way in, I climbed the stairs to the top and walked into a lighted room lined with woodcarvings on the walls. I was taken back by the sheer volume of work on display. I told him I had to get my wife and will admit I was a little choked up, all I could do was motion for her to come. Paul labors in obscurity, never showing his work or entering carving shows. His work is not for sale and is only for his own pleasure. I couldn't help but feel I was lead to this very place to see this work. It was truly inspiring and I can't explain the feeling of knowing that I could identify with what he was doing.
The photos don't do justice to the depth that the carvings have. Paul carves 5 to 6 inches deep into glued up blocks of butternut. The elements are carved all the way around as if they are independent pieces and as you move around them they shift perspective as if you are wearing 3D glasses. It's as if the room is moving and the intensity of the lighting gives them extra punch. There is really no way to describe it, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but they are limited because they are only in 2D.