The first major art piece to come out of sculptor Jeff May’s new studio was a towering grizzly bear perched on hind legs carved from his neighbor’s beloved ponderosa pine tree.

The bear peers curiously into the pine forest surrounding May’s Athol property. It weighs in at 1,939 pounds and commands the May driveway, waiting to be driven to Park City, Utah, where it will greet customers at Kodiak Cakes headquarters.

“They wanted intense, but not mean,” May said.

The ponderosa pine used to create the bear was a gift from May’s neighbor, Tracey Johnson. It split in a wind storm and was taken down by Kootenai Electric. But in neighborly reciprocation, Johnson has been there for May, just as May has been there for Johnson.

That friendship was forged further in fire. On Jan. 21, a blaze destroyed May’s workshop.

“He is just always there for my family, the first one on the phone asking, ‘Are you guys all right over there?’” Johnson said. “Before the flames were even out I had the GoFundMe page up and running.”

The fire marshal said the blaze reached 2,100 degrees inside the shop. When it was done, May said, most of the artwork was unrecognizable. A charred bear leans against a tree outside the shop, looking slightly noir. It survived the fire, along with several small bronze bear statues.

Also lost in the fire was the “Freedom Tree” wood sculpture dedicated at McEuen Park in Coeur d’Alene in honor of Fred McMurray, local veteran and prisoner of war. It is scheduled to get recommissioned. McMurray plans to help May design a new piece to commemorate veterans in our community.

But May wasn’t down for long. He went to work immediately to rebuild.

His new studio was completed on Sept. 21, exactly eight months after the fire. The simple things have made a big difference in the new space: a sink, good lighting, an electric heater, and a door to the carving area. May does many of his carvings outside in a covered work space attached to the studio. It is where he started the grizzly.

“When a piece is this big you feel like you’re standing against a wall,” May said. “Sculptors call this blocking out.”

May begins with the large muscle groups of the animal he is carving, using his Stihl MS180 with a specialized bar to make the first cuts.

“One saw cut, one little line can change the texture of a product,” he said. “You have one attempt to get an expression.”

May is always anticipating, developing a feel for how the wood will react to his work. The bears he leaves thick; he wants to leave room for the fur to define the animal.

Along the studio wall hangs a sliding shelf unit with cubbies for all of May’s carving tools. It glides along rails mounted in the ceiling to follow him as he works along a piece of wood.

Most of his carvings are informed by the wildlife of this region. He loves being out in the woods and believes that if people experience wild places, they will care about those places.

They can first experience a place through art.

It took approximately four weeks to carve the bear. May used a die grinder to smooth the bear’s snout. It’s a tool that always makes his dog howl, he said, chuckling to himself.

His enthusiasm for his work is contagious. It’s work that has allowed him to provide for his family.

“I am breaking the mold of what a chain saw carver can be,” May said, turning the bust of a carved black bear to show the bronze maple leaves holding it in place.

May is excited to mix different media in his work going forward. He sees sculpting as story shaping. People come to him with a subject that is meaningful to them.

“Sculptures are in their best way symbolic of people, places, and relationships,” he said.