When Creston’s Bob Graham saw a photo on the Internet of a Mountie astride a horse, he knew what his next carving project would be.
“I wanted to make a tribute to RCMP members who have died while serving their country,” said the moose antler carver. “I am a great believer in the importance of law and order. Where would we be without it?”
On Saturday in Cranbrook he presented federal Justice Minister and Attorney General Peter MacKay with his carving at a Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks’ constituency office. MacKay, in turn, will present it to the RCMP detachment commander in Moncton on June 4.
“I really can’t believe this is happening,” Graham said. “I am so pleased that a carving I made in memory these officers will be viewed by many RCMP members and their families.”
Graham, a Creston resident since 1996, owns and operates a home and auto glass shop with his brother, Howard. Outside his work hours, he turns to a hobby he took up about 16 years ago when he saw a man carving an antler.
“I thought that it looked like something I could do.”
He had no experience or training as an artist, but soon found himself copying an image onto a moose antler.
Graham uses only “shed antlers” that have been found in the bush. Although he is a hunter who enjoys game meat, he doesn’t want to think that an animal has been killed so he can use the antlers.
“For me hunting is really about getting out there in the bush. It’s my travel — I don’t go anywhere else.”
Not long after he flipped the switch on his Dremel tool, Graham said he felt comfortable with the process. Soon, he was making carvings depicting outdoor scenes, animals, First Nations people and anything else that captured his imagination.
As he progressed from being a beginner to an artist whose pieces have been purchased by collectors, Graham describes himself as being like the Little Engine That Could.
“I’m still learning on every carving I do, getting confidence that I can get the effect I want,” he said. “At first I would struggle in my mind, but confidence has been a big lesson.”
Never having had to discard a carving in progress is an indication that Graham has the combination of talent and skill needed to create fine detail in his work.
“A limitless amount of patience” is his greatest asset, he said. “You learn what you can get away with and what you can’t.”
When he saw a picture depicting a mounted RCMP horseman, he decided to use it as the basis for a design.
“I thought, I hope there are people across Canada who care about what we lost in Mayerthorpe and Moncton,” he said, referring to the Alberta and New Brunswick communities where, respectively, where four RCMP officers were murdered, and where another three officers were killed on duty and two more were severely injured.
The image Graham created in about 60 hours shows a mounted RCMP officer beside a Canadian flag flying from a pole. In the distance are four ponies running free, symbolic of the Mayerthorpe officers. Overheard, three flying eagles represent the Moncton members who died.
Below the scene is an inscription: “THEY GAVE THEIR ALL.”
An inscribed brass plaque attached to the antler says, “To the dedicated police officers who couldn’t go home that night. God bless their families.”
