Artist: Lee Fisher

1940-2007

Lee Fisher of Reedsport passed away on January 17, 2007
He was born May 16, 1940 in Gary, Indiana, and was raised in foster care. He mentioned having had a wife and children but his past family life remains a mystery to us. At one time he was a lay minister, a professional photographer,  an avid aquarist, and a bridge troll. He led a life in the forest, living off the land, gold panning and horse trading periodically returning to civilization where he would rent a house and thaw out before again returning to the woods. He began hand carving wood 18 years ago and has created a legacy of exquisite and intricate works of art. He may have been a crotchety and stubborn old man to casual acquaintances, but his friends knew he had a generous spirit with a subtle sense of humor. He really enjoyed telling his stories and showing off his sculptures to anyone who showed an interest.

Everyday Heroes - Lee Fisher finds beauty in a blade of grass
by Heather Vail

Someone said he looks like a leprechaun, or maybe a gnome. From the woods
indeed, yet not full of mischief, is Lee Fisher, a man “relocating” to
Reedsport where he can whittle away and carve with the best of them.
He shares his new old town apartment with partner Jeff Taylor, their dog
Kachina and lots of tools. Just inside their doorway, the welcome mat is
wood chips, the furniture heavy machinery.
“I was born 64 years ago this month, so they tell me, in Gary, Indiana, a
steel town. My foster parents forbade me to do art. The first time I got
caught drawing something was for a school project, and I got my front teeth
knocked out.”
Fisher has led a life in the forest, living off the land, goldpanning and
doing a miscellany of jobs, such as mining and horse trading in Illinois
Valley. When he looks at a dandelion he knows it can be salad, or a coffee
substitute.
“If ever I’d see more than 10 people across the field in a month, I’d feel
I must be in Los Angeles,” he says with a raspy chuckle.
One day 14 years ago he traded something for a box of junk that included a
six-piece chisel set. “I just wanted to see if I could do something with
it, if not I’d either trade it or throw it in the river ‘cuz I ain’t
carrying any extra weight,” says the simple man.
With those tools Fisher sat down and began to carve an eagle, copied from a
pattern on a Safeway shopping bag. It became an eagle’s head, which ended
up a belt buckle. “I learned very quickly to work with dry wood,” he
recalls with a grin.
“From that day on I’ve been carving, thanks to the good Lord and a lot of
wonderful people along the way.”
One good person, who became a friend and sponsor, is Gareth Mast of
Myrtlewood Gallery, where Fisher’s pieces hang. “He is different, his work
is  collectable,” asserts Mast. Fisher’s pieces are sold in several
galleries throughout Oregon.
“The first carving I made sold for $20, enough to buy new tires for my
three-wheel bicycle. I make my living now through wood carvings, which may
take months to complete. The difference is my standard of living versus
others’,” Fisher says. “Money means nothing to me. Now I make enough to pay
rent on a house downtown, food and utilities, and necessities, such as
tobacco.”
His basic abode, white walls with furniture coordinated on an orange color
scheme, also hosts ashtrays, oyster crackers, Lawry’s seasoning salt and
odd dishes and cutlery.
As he sits talking about art and the creative process, arms spreading for
emphasis, legs crossed for balance, Fisher looks like he could be just as
at home in a plastic tarp abode way off in the forest as in an apartment in
Manhattan flocked by a bohemian crowd.
His blue eyes are covered by glasses held together with duct tape, fringed
by ash-grey hair, which he pushes back with toughened hands, fingernails
thick like burls.
“I feel lucky, like I’ve gotten to see things that many others don’t get a
chance to see. The world moves so fast, and people don’t take the time to
look out the window and see the clouds, to be still and marvel at the
things. If we could only say, ‘Hey -world, stop - stop for just one
minute,’ and look, I mean really look, and see the details in a bird’s
feather. I stop and enjoy a thin blade of grass growing out of the
concrete. I stand in awe of its strength and beauty,” Fisher tells.
“I love flowers, eel, eagles, elk, fish, coral reef; you see, my subject
matter is endless.
“I am very practical, a realist. I don’t like modern art, I like things
that are. So in that regard I don’t know if ‘artist’ is the right title for
me. I am more of a translator, nothing but a glorified plagiarist, copying
something already made,” as Fisher sees it.
He carves myrtlewood, redwood, black maple, and walnut. The hand-tooled
pieces are noticeably created with care, inch by inch.
“I feel the spirit move through me when I carve, just like a woodpecker,
tat tat tat,” he describes.
These years have taught Fisher about the detailed refinery of carving, and
the whims of buyers.
Once he made an owl for a patron who said it turned out much too dark.
Fisher says he threw it in the campfire that night, and when he later saw a
gallery that sold pieces made of dark wood, he spoke with the owner who
told him how she would have loved that owl. He made her some.
“If you have some pieces that disappoint you don’t throw them away - you
never know who’ll like them, someone usually will,” he says.
“Now I get out in the woods and throw a piece of wood on the fire and think
what I could’ve made with that - I can’t throw it away.”
Fisher is known for his “Valley of the Eagles” carvings, which are just
that. The first one he did made its way east, purchased by a gentleman in
Minnesota, Fisher says. That collector sold it to an heiress for $25,000,
so the legend goes.
He talks about his dream piece, a life-size Valley of the Eagles, including
birds with 7-foot wingspans. Fisher considers that an impossible dream.
“I have not done the perfect piece - will I ever? When you get down to it
there is no perfect piece. Nothing in nature is perfect, but it is. The
imperfection makes the reality of it perfect,” he says.
Perhaps that is where the artist emerges, as Fisher states clearly, “I try
to carve miniature pieces of my world.”

This column appears regularly to profile individuals in the community and
surrounding areas who, by sharing their stories, remind us there are
positive forces at play in our world everyday. Suggestions can be sent via
email: www.umpquapost@harborside.com.

The above article was printed in The Umpqua Post June 4, 2003 issue