Rory Alvarez
3804 36th Circle Rio Rancho, NM 87124
(505) 891-5313
www.art-to-buy.com

I was born in the San Francisco bay area and lived there most of my adult life. I worked as a truck driver in the bay area close to 15 years.

In 1983, I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico to visit family and decided to leave the trucking experience and pursue my dream of wood carving. My wife and I reside in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

During my development stages of wood carving, I found my own UNIQUE style as a wood carver. My carvings are contemporary however, one might call my style as humorous conversational, a cartoonish look of art. I carve my pieces by hand, using spruce and sugar pine wood. Each carving can consists of 11 to 24 pieces of carved wood.

Not only did I want to create my own style, I wanted to insert character and personality into each carving. It was important to create each wood carving so unique, but also to assign a uniqueness into the painting of each sculpture. This uniqueness has developed into my 'trademark'.  The hand-painting efforts are shared with my wife, Ruby.

I really enjoy my work as it allows me to use my imagination and creativity with wood. I'm always searching for new ideas to improve my techniques My gallery of carvings grow as customers contact me for special works of art.

I have now enhanced my 'trademark' with the incorporation of ceramics. Rabbits are slip cast in plaster molds. 'Slip' consists of liquid clay. The master molds were created from Rory's original wood carvings. There are multiple molds for each ceramic rabbit. Each piece is cast and assembled. All joints are smoothed, finished by hand, fired, and hand-painted. No two rabbits are exactly alike as each is hand-crafted, which results in it's own uniqueness.

Process Description

1st day: I start with a block of wood and laminating the body. A band saw is used to cut out all pieces. The pieces are diagramed to the body and then cut to fit the body. After the cut, the pieces go through a grinding and sanding effort.

2nd day: Each piece is assembled utilizing wood glue and screws. A special paste is made is fill in the joints, contour to present shoulder/arm/leg definition. The goal is to give life to each animal.

3rd day: The animal is sanded and buffed by hand. When a smooth surfaced is acquired, the animal is hand painted.

My work is NOT mass produced. Each carving is created as each order is received.