History in Wood: Jerry Prior's New Mackinaw City Sculpture Is Underway
By Paul Gingras

Before he began creating large wooden carvings, Jerry Prior of Mackinaw City carved smaller wooden figures like this troll, which appears on the porch of his home.

A tall wooden statue of Hattie Stimpson stands nearly complete at the corner of Central Avenue and Louvingny Street in Mackinaw City, a symbolic welcome to the village she pioneered. Beside her, mallet and chisel in hand, resident sculptor Jerry Prior scrutinizes his ongoing effort, the last in a series of historical works he has dedicated to his chosen home.

What began as a hobby for a retiree on the road has become a picturesque phenomenon in town. Residents often stop to talk to Mr. Prior as he works, or honk as they drive by and see him on the scaffolding, chipping away to create lifelike art from the trunks of enormous white pines.

"They like to see me out there carving. They are proud of their town, and this adds a lot," he said.

Tourists are equally enthusiastic. Many bombard him with questions about his subjects. Others pick up wooden chips as he carves, and have Mr. Prior sign them. Some return years later, and tell him they still have the signatures.

Sculptures of small animals like this one are among the first of Jerry Prior's wooden carvings. His hobby has expanded to include large wooden images of important historical figures, which appear throughout Mackinaw City.

Mr. Prior is often photographed as he works.

An accomplished carver, he has won awards at sculpting contests in Iron Mountain, Lansing, and Oscoda. To his surprise, his lifesized depiction of a grizzly bear won Best of Show in Iron Mountain.

Mr. Prior, 73, started wood sculpting in 1989, shortly after he retired from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), where he worked as a road designer.

With little extra space in his camper, Mr. Prior began to carve small wooden animals, a practical way for an artist to the pass time as he traveled.

The work can be almost hypnotic, he said.

"You get yourself so involved in a particular sculpture," analyzing an animal's form, for example, how its fur flows, why it flows how it does, and how to carve as if the wind has caught the fur and ruffled it.

Village resident Jerry Prior works on a wooden carving of Hattie Stimpson, one of Mackinaw City's first residents, in this September 17, 2007, photograph. The statue is well underway and will be the last in a series of sculptures that depict local, historical figures. (Photograph courtesy of Jerry Prior)

The idea is to bring life to a subject.

"The eyes," he said, "are very important."

Sitting on their porch in Mackinaw City, surrounded by carvings as small as chickadees and as large as a black bear, Mr. Prior's wife, Sandy, likes to reminisce on the beginning of her husband's hobby.

Wherever they stopped, he would pick up a piece of wood and carve, she said.

As the couple's six children grew up, Mr. Prior was a Lansingbased commercial artist. He worked for MDOT, United Art Studios, John Bean, and Oldsmobile, creating technical drawings, newspaper advertisements, magazine pieces, logotypes, and other works of art, much of it on his own time.

The first in a series of wood sculptures of important historical figures carved by Mackinaw City resident Jerry Prior, Chief Wawatam stands at Wawatam Park in Mackinaw City.

"I had a lot of stuff going," he said.

In 1993, after spending four winters in Arizona and four summers at the Straits of Mackinac, the Priors became year-around village residents.

Two years later, statues of important historical figures, each eight to 10 feet tall, began to appear in the village. Mr. Prior roughed them out with a chainsaw, and used a series of increasingly detailed tools to bring them to perfection.

Streetscapes were designed to include the figures, and now, a walking tour incorporates several of Mackinaw City's most famous figures. Plaques explain their significance. Mr. Prior researches the figures he carves, and he writes the text for the plaques.

Chippewa Indian Chief Wawatam appeared first. Wearing a serious expression, he stands at Wawatam Park, the Straits glimmering behind him. The statue, carved from memory, is based on a sketch of the chief at about 30 years old, Mr. Prior said.

It is rare to find full-length pictures of historical figures, he noted, but he obtained one of Chief Wawatam from Lowell Barnett of Mackinaw City, who had a historical book that contained the sketch.

"I was only planning to carve one," Mr. Prior told The St. Ignace News. Following the Chief, however, he gave the village a statue of Alexander Henry, a fur trader at Fort Michilimackinac; British Major Arent Schuyler DePeyster, who once commanded Fort Michilimackinac; Perry Darrow, a civic-minded village resident and friend of the Priors, and Edgar Conkling, Mackinaw City's founder.

Working steadily, Mr. Prior completed one statue about every two years. Just when he thought he was finished, Village Manager Jeff Lawson convinced him to produce one more statue to stand at the entrance to town, he said.

"Jeff has a knack for putting things in good places," he added.

Working with the Mackinaw Area Historical Society, Mr. Prior offered to carve an important local author, early school teacher, or a settler.

The result was the statue of Hattie Stimpson, a member of the family thought to be the first settlers in Mackinaw City.

He hopes to complete the statue before snowfall, Mr. Prior said. Her plaque should be in place next summer.

Now a part of the Mackinaw Area Carving Club, Mr. Prior insists that people with remarkably different backgrounds can become great carvers.

"You would be surprised, once you get into carving, you would be right at home," he said.