'Storytime' by Bruce Futterer

This fine gentleman is sitting on his bench and reading a book. Or is he pretending to read his book and actually sneaking a peek over there to see what's going on? It's hard to tell with this fantastic carved figure done by North House Scandinavian Flat Plane Carving Instructor Bruce Futterer. When you take a closer look, it's actually hard to decide what his intentions are and so makes it even more fun to explore the figure!  Bruce is renowned for his delightful carved figures whose facial features tell all sorts of stories! "Storytime" is no exception.  The carved figure sits  4-3/4" tall. He is sporting a nice brown suitcoat, buttoned shirt and teal slacks with sturdy black shoes. He could be the envy of the Saturday night contra dancers with his full head of dashing brown hair. Most importantly, he's got a great sneaky grin on his face and can't wait to either tell you about what he is reading or what he has heard while sitting on his bench.  

Bruce has been an avid carver since 1977. Since 2000, Bruce has won numerous blue ribbons at the International Carving Competition held each year in Davenport, Iowa. In 2004 his Santa Claus carving was selected as the National Grand Prize winner in the Woodcraft/Wood Carving Illustrated contests. In 2006, Bruce won Best of Show at the National Caricature Carvers Competition, and in 2005, he was awarded a Gold Medal for Scandinavian style carving from the Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum. Bruce was raised in Grand Marais and returns to the North Shore each summer.