By Racquel Arceo
Avenue Bread may be known for its assortment of artisan breads, pastries, and soups but there is one item that isn’t feature on the menu. While searching for a table, customers may stumble upon a man whittling away.
About five days a week, for the
past year and a half, Steve LaMarine turns a table in the diner in to his own
personal workshop.
Since moving to Bellingham about
eight and a half years a go to be closer to his daughter and her growing
family, LaMarine has retired.
Before bringing his talent to
Avenue Bread LaMarine would do pieces for friends and family sending his work
across the country, like to Philadelphia and Atlanta.
LaMarine taught himself how to
carve caricatures when he was just 16 but said that since he was a baby he had
always been doing something with wood. Growing up his father was a carpenter so
material was always available to him.
Since retirement LaMarine said he
really started getting in to his carving and learning about it through
different magazines.
“I think a lot of people who say
they have no artistic ability are working in the wrong medium,” he said.
After stopping in for breakfast
with his wife one morning LaMarine decided Avenue Bread would be a good place
to carve.
“I started coming here because I
don’t really have a place to work at home,” LaMarine said.
When he first started carving at
Avenue Bread he would only work for 30-40 minutes during his breakfast, keeping
quiet about what he was doing. Now LaMarine sits openly, for hours at a time,
carving, keeping pieces proudly displayed in front of him for curious customers
to see.
“It also explains why there’s a
man sitting there with a sharp knife,” LaMarine said.
LaMarine enjoys working in Avenue
Bread so often because of the atmosphere. He said he likes hearing the happy
people around him talking and laughing.
“No one comes to a restaurant to
fight, and that’s what I want to hear, laughter,” he said. “I’ve been
photographed seven times by tourist. It really cracks me up.”
Working alone, LaMarine doesn’t
produce enough pieces to sell commercially; in fact, when he first started, he
wasn’t selling his work at all, just giving it away.
“This last year was the first
time I’ve ever sold anything,” he said.
He made the decision to start
selling when there suddenly became a high demand in his turtle carvings. Being
one of his favorite pieces to carve, LaMarine said his turtle is his trademark
carving though his Santa Claus carvings are his best sellers.
Charging around three dollars an
hour LaMarine doesn’t make much of a profit but, for him, that isn’t the point.
“I don’t want this to get to be a
business where I’m working on deadlines, that takes the fun out of it. I didn’t
retire from marketing just to switch to another stressful job, I don’t want to
add more stress to my life,” LaMarine said. “[Carving is] something I do for
fun, not for the money.”
Currently LaMarine is working on
a few pieces to donate to animal rescue and a donkey he was commissioned to
carve.
“A lot of the stuff I make, it’s the first time I’ve ever made it,” he said.
“A lot of the stuff I make, it’s the first time I’ve ever made it,” he said.
Carving in the restaurant
LaMarine tries to be courteous, not just to the customers, but also to the
staff, never leaving behind a mess.
LaMarine doesn’t do much in the ways of advertising, he said people mostly hear of him through word mouth but he is working on setting up a page on Facebook. For now, LaMarine can be contacted at slamarine@aol.com
LaMarine doesn’t do much in the ways of advertising, he said people mostly hear of him through word mouth but he is working on setting up a page on Facebook. For now, LaMarine can be contacted at slamarine@aol.com
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