Old trees given new life with carving | DrumhellerMail

Old trees given new life with carving

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The sound of chainsaws buzzing and whirring could be heard in Downtown Drumheller on Friday, September 16 and Saturday, September 17 as professional carver Marina Cole of Chainsaw Spirit went to work at the Downtown Plaza shaping trees, downed throughout the Drumheller Valley for flood mitigation work, into works of art. Several trees were cut down to facilitate flood mitigation work throughout the Drumheller Valley, and in March the Mail reported the Flood Mitigation Community Advisory Committee were marking some of the trees slated for removal to be used in a community art installation. Ms. Cole has participated in numerous international carving competitions across Canada, the United States, and Australia, recently placing first in the Kootenai Country Montana International Chainsaw Carving Championship earlier in September. Her chainsaw carvings can be seen throughout Medicine Hat, parts of Alberta and British Columbia, and the Chainsaw Spirit Gallery in Irvine - some 280 kilometres southeast of Drumheller near the Saskatchewan border.