Renn Corrigan was desperate for a hobby.

The Kalispell woman had recently retired from a long career in education. She’d taught computers and business at Flathead High School and worked as an administrator in Michigan. After years following a schedule jam-packed with classes and kids, Corrigan suddenly found herself with more time than she knew what to do with.

She needed something to fill her hours — and her hands.

“I looked into all kinds of things: watercolors, stained glass, knitting, crocheting — everything under the sun,” she said.

When she finally discovered woodcarving, Corrigan knew she’d found her outlet.

“Carving is what really got to me,” she said. “It’s the creativity that comes and the success of seeing something emerge from a piece of wood that other people like.”

Corrigan is one of a handful of members of the High-Country Carvers. The group meets weekly to share tips and enjoy their shared hobby.

Corrigan started carving about 13 years ago. She was inspired after watching a friend, Clyde Pederson, whittle wooden cowboy boots.

“I was just kind of watching him really intently,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Do you want to try this?’”

Her response was immediate and enthusiastic: “Well, yeah, I do!”

Corrigan, imitating Pederson, set to work on a boot of her own. After hours of labor, she proudly showed the finished project to her husband.

“It was a disaster, really, but I was so proud of it,” Corrigan said. “My husband said, ‘Renn, that does not look like a cowboy boot. It looks like a woman’s figure.’”

Corrigan laughed as she recalled that first attempt at carving. Since then, she said, she has gotten much better. She also has shifted her focus from cowboy boots to holiday staples.

“I was always very interested in Christmas, and I’ve never grown up,” she said. “I wanted to make Santa Clauses.”

So she did. Soon she added snowmen and other Christmas-themed objects to her repertoire.

Sometimes Corrigan sells her pieces to people who ask for them. She has also participated in art shows. But her primary purpose in carving is the sheer joy of it.

“It was supposed to be fun, and it is,” she said.

Corrigan creates her pieces out of basswood, a straight-grained, medium-density wood.

“It’s relatively easy to carve, although you can find a hard piece once in a while,” she said.

The High-Country Carvers primarily use hand tools in their work. The touchably soft edges to Corrigan’s pieces are nearly all achieved through careful whittling.

“I very seldom ever touch any sandpaper to anything,” she said. “It’s all with knives and gouges.”

Gouges sound potentially dangerous, but Corrigan is quick to assure would-be carvers that whittling is actually safer than it looks.

It’s amazing how very few cuts we get,” she said. “We wear safety gloves and have a thumb guard on usually. A few don’t, but 95 percent of us do use safety gear.”

The group is always searching for new carvers to join them. High-Country Carvers’ membership has dwindled over the years. 

At one time, anywhere from 15 to 20 carvers met regularly to enjoy their hobby and share tips and stories, Corrigan said. But over the years, the group’s average age has risen. Some members have died.

The group has about six to eight regular members now, Corrigan said. Three of them are women.

Anyone, of any age and ability, is welcome to join the carvers at their weekly meetings, she said. Group members are always willing to offer tips and help novices get started.

“We’ll help somebody get started, answer questions, show them how to do things, talk about sharpening your knives. That’s very important,” she said.

For more information about the High-Country Carvers, call Corrigan at 755-4074.

Kristi Albertson, editor of This Week in the Flathead, may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.