Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 4 June '86 53

Villas Wood Carver Back in Competition

By E J. DUFFY VILLAS — "There isn't enough time to carve all the ones I want to do," Joan Wolf of Fulling Mill Road said of the birds she fashions from bass wood. Seabirds have been her favorites, but she also likes to carve birds of prey into miniatures that have won awards since Wolf first started carving more than 10 years ago. "I'm on a comeback now," she said, after a four-year hiatus from competition. "I was always interested in art and 1 felt the need to get into three dimensional somehow," Wolf recalled about her start in bird carving. Former art teachers Joan and Jim Seibert of Dennisville supported her first efforts, she said. Wolf carved a seagull from her first block of wood. "SO THEY GOT ME started and the second piece that I did, they liked it," she added. The Seiberts, then in Del Haven, took that work — two seagulls fighting over a fish — to a carvers' show in Chincoteague, Va., back in 1975 where it won a first prize. "So then I was hooked on competition.. .and I won prizes in every contest I entered," said the carver. Those prizes included 1978 national and worla best of shows in the miniature division for an osprey. "They've been sold; they don't stick around very long," Wolf said of her award winners. "Some of the pieces have been valued at say $6,000," she added, while one of her pelicans commands as much as $7,500. "Not everybody has $7,500, so you have to go to shows... where you come upon a collector who has money like that," Wolf explained. CARVING ONE OF HER miniature pelican scenes takes about four months, though, with two weeks or more for a miniature songbird, she noted. "I would have to sit and carve about 12 hours a day, six days a week, to make a living at it," she estimated. "There's a lot of work and a lot of research," said the artist, and the latter takes as much time, if not more, than the carving. "Reference material is not always easy to find," she added, noting that it's not always accurate either. While painting an osprey from an Audubon print the day before a competition, Wolf found out the feet should have been slate blue not yellow as depicted. John James Audubon, the famous bird painter, was color blind, she was told. "Coloring is something you have to consider very carefully," stressed Wolf who pours over "bird books" for color prints of her subjects. True colors of plumage, however, can be tainted in them simply because of the time of day photographs were taken or paintings were done, and shading from shadows at the time. "SO. THE BEST THING to do is observe them personally," she maintained. Wolf does so by keeping an eye on her six bird feeders. "I'll study the birds, sometimes for hours..., and photograph them," she said. Working with a bandsaw. Wolf fashions her miniature from a kiln-dried block of basswood. "I start by making a pattern," she said. "Sometimes, I'll take a lot of photographs and make a composite" to determine the desired angle (pose), Wolf added.

iL FINISHING TOUCHES - 'Hiiri' winning bird carver Joan Wolf of Villas puts the finishing touches on her scene of brown pelicans called "Protecting the Nest."

From a flat wooden silhouette, she then starts carving. "If sort of like trimming a hedge, she laughed. "I start from all sides and work inward." Using acrylics because they dry quickly. Wolf finishes the miniature works of art with several coats of paint and a couple of wash. A hair dryer and touch-ups complete the creation. Now that the tourist season's started. Wolf has to do most of her carving at night. She, her mother, Bea Stubbs, and sister, Jean Bartleson, help manage Ricker's gift shop on Cape May's Boardwalk. "THAT KEEPS US BUSY in the sum mer," Wolf explained. Her works will be displayed and sold with those of other carvers during a July 25-26 show on the Boardwalk at Cape May Convention Hall. "Now. they do have a small competition," she said. "But 1 won't be entering it I don't think." Another carvers' show is scheduled Sept. 20-21 at The Wetlands Institute along Stone Harbor Boulevard. Middle Township. A county native, Wolf was born 1938 at Applegate's Maternity Home, Court House. She spent her early years in the county, later moving with her family to Palmyra where she attended grade and high schools. The family eventually returned to the county, though, where her late father, John, founded Stubbs' Real Estate in Cape May before becoming city tax assessor Mother of three - Terri, 25; Rick. 24; and John, 20 — Wolf has settled in Lower Township. "I just bought my own little place last year," she said.

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Requirement Snarls PIC

(From Page 1) cept at a few job sites with classroom training facilities. But this county has decided to go with 20 percent classroom training given on the job site by 20 certified teachers and guidance counselors hired for the program by the county Office of Employment and Training. NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN that office and ACC fell through, officials said, because ACC's offer was too expensive and because the county doesn't have enough participants. According to John Bettis, Atlantic County PIC director r.nd director of the division of training and employment, his office found ACC training to be more effective. "We tried to do it ourselves and we find (CC) works better for us," Bettis said. "It's a little more costly than we'd like to see, but the end results are better." Cape May County has funds for about 350 participants, but only 253 applicants. It has already entered into agreements with seven job sites that need 183 youths. JOSEPH HAGGERTY, administrator of the county Office of Employment and Training, said ACC wanted to train youths for four weeks and "flipflop" another 75 for four more weeks. After the 183 slots are filled, he said, "we can't come up with another 150 people." Haggerty and Freeholder Herbert Frederick said ACC's offer was too expensive. but neither they nor Damian Kodgis, assistant director of^ACC's Business Human Resourc^Cffiter would reveal the terms of the^H-bposed contract. "Wedotft feel it's public information." Kodgis said. "It's not our policy to discuss the terms of the proposal, except with the people we're dealing with. "We just couldn't come to terms on the services or the contract," he added "We're hoping we can send in another proposal for next year, and it will be accepted." HAGGERTY SAID his office decided to try on-site trainig to comply with the classroom training recommendation from the governor's Job Training Coordinating Council. He said there are not enough par ticipants to run a 50 percent program, like Atlantic County. "If we had to cut out some job sites this year, they might not bother with us next year," he added. "We decided to try onsite training to comply with the 20 percent (Council recommendation) and also provide the work sites more working time." The governor's council strongly recommended at least 20 percent classroom time, but didn't get specific on curriculum BETTIS SAID the curriculum may include. job skills, life skills training (check cashing, renting apartments, etc.), vocational exploration (exploring career op^ portunities and prerequisites for careers) and remedial education, "which should be coordinated with school districts to deal with deficiencies in math, reading, writing, and basics " Bettis said remedial education is the "most important" component, and Atlantic County uses three methods to deter mine if it is needed : Talking to the youth's guidance counselor, asking his parents whether he is weak in his school work, and giving a basic aptitude test "We're not teachers or educational evaluators," Bettis said. But in Cape May County. Haggerty said, the need for remediation will be determin-

ed by counselor observation after the program begins. Haggerty said the 20 counselors are currently preparing for curriculum, and will have a one-week orientation period beginn ing June 23. Although the deadline of April 18 has passed, applications will still be accepted until that date. The program starts June 30 and runs until Aug. 23. HISTORICALLY, the program has had trouble filling all its slots, primarily because it pays minimum wage and most youths can find summer jobs paying more Haggerty noted that many fast -food rfctaurants and boardwalk jobs pay $4 an hour. But, he said, the program is not in competition with the private sector "The name of the game is employment." he said. "If the private sector can employ them, then that's great with us." Another problem is the lack of older applicants. "The program is for participants (aged) 14-21 ; we mostly get participants under 18, though. The older kids work at other jobs," said Caren Maene, chief planner at the Office of Employment and Training. "Sometimes we have a problem, a lot of job requests are for older children." THIS YEAR, the majority of applicants. 201, are 15. Only 22 are aged 16 or over. Anyone interested in checking eligibility or requesting program applications can call Employment and Training at 886-0975 All handicapped youths ("people that can work but nave a slight handicap." Haggerty said) are automatically eligible, as are those from families on welfare or food stamps. There are also family income guidelines, such as $11,000 for a family of four. Applications are also available from school guidance counselors and the employment office in Wildwood. VWF Crash Injuries 2 Teens VILLAS — James A. Eberle; 18, of Clearwater Drive. North Cape May. and a Villas girl, 17, were hospitalized after a single-vehicle crash 1:10 a.m. Saturday near Bayshore Road and Shawmount Avenue, Lower Township police reported The girl, who police declined to identify because of her age. was thrown from the vehicle when it struck a tree and overturned, they said. She suffered head and back injuries; Eberle suffered back injuries and abrasions, police said. Crash Claims Teen ERMA — Francis E. DiStefano, 17. of Absecon Highlands was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-vehicle crash here early Saturday morning. Speeding east around 1 :23 a.m.. the Absegami High School senior's jeep struck a pole, then a tree, before careening into a house at 796 Tabernacle Road. Lower Township Police reported ,.

Hearing 'Meaningless' —

(From Page 1) tually the freeholders and counsel Harry A. Deventhal Jr. appeared to agree "The agreements say we must purchase them and we would have to find some other way to fund it," said Deventhal. "We are tied into buving these proper ties," he added, "but how we raise the money is a board decision." But no one suggested any other way to raise the money. In fact, the county's '86 budget is adopted and state law forbids transfers until Nov. 1. "IT'S A MOOT question," said Freeholder- Director William E. Sturm Jr.. pointing out the bond issue wil go through Freeholder Gerald M. Thornton said the county was motivated by desire to avoid having to put down the normal 10 percent good faith deposit With Everlon, he pointed out, that would have meant $200,000 up front, sitting in escrow instead of in a county-owned interest-bearing CD.

In fact, the money in the escrow account would have earned interest, but maybe 1 or 2 percent less than the county can make as an investment. DEVENTHAL SAID there was no good faith deposit for the Racquet Club, but 5 percent for the Everlon plant, which would be $100,000. "I think I agree with Wilsey," Thornton told this newspaper, "We should have a clause in the agreement that says pending financing'. But then we probably would have had to put up a security deposit I can't criticize either side." Sturm said Wilsey had done the same kind of thing when he was a freeholder, 1972-77. That point is frequently made when Wilsey questions freeholder actions. And he made his customary respoase: that doesn't make it right. "This usurps the public's right to be heard and its opinions considered." concluded Wilsey.