About Us

The Atlanta Woodcarvers Club was founded in 1976 by a group of carvers in the Atlanta area with the purpose of promoting woodcarving/wood sculpting on all levels of performance, and providing fellowship and support to local woodcarvers. The club grew in membership to a record level of 125 members and then, some years ago, when travel around the City became sufficiently aggravating, some of the Atlanta Woodcarvers Club members split off to form suburban clubs (Chattahoochee Club, Marietta area and Flint River Club, south of Atlanta). As a consequence, membership in our club was diminished, but the quality and enthusiasm was not. All the Atlanta area carvers support the idea of encouraging carvers to join the club most convenient to them.

The club is comprised of a generous span of ages and well-represented by both genders and all levels of expertise.

Our annual schedule of monthly meetings generally includes about six programs where instructors teach a specific carving project or subject; three or four meetings where carving on members’ unfinished pieces is done with help available from more experienced club members; a Summer Social with a covered dish dinner and show-and-tell; and a Christmas/Holiday Season Social that includes a covered dish dinner and a pictorial synopsis of the year’s carving efforts.

Outside the monthly meetings, other learning experiences are available to members by the club and a variety of groups nearby. Since the club meets only once a month, members are encouraged to enroll in these extra-club schools offering immersion for a few days in a variety of specific carving skills such as relief carving; in-the-round sculpting; caricature carving; carving with power tools, palm gouges, long gouges and mallet; carving only with a knife; woodburning (not a fireplace event unless the piece is a failure); finishing a carving with paints, etc.

The club’s meeting facility at Mason Mill Recreation Center (lower level), 1340 McConnell Drive, Decatur (near Toco Hills), is provided by the DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department.