One of the wonderful discoveries in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area was the chainsaw sculptures of Mark Chevez. Mark is a retired fire fighter who transformed the devastation of a fire in one of the city's Open Space Parks into a gallery of art.
Since the 1960s, Albuquerque has had a very aggressive program of acquiring undeveloped open areas for parks that will be preserved for the future as the city grows. In an area very much like this along the Rio Grande River a serious fire in 2003 killed the cottonwoods near 2nd St. and Pased Del Norte NW and when we visited he had recently completed creating these sculptures.
These sculptures are incredibly detailed and normally include multiple figures in each tree.
While we were visiting they also had an exhibition of his work in the Open Spaces Center. Rather obviously this outdoor sculpture that Mark named Arbol De Vida
or Tree of Life is permanently installed. The indoor exhibits show even more detailing and fine workmanship like the eagle and balloons I really need three shots to cover the whole design.
Most of the works in the indoor show were actually for sale. In addition to the public works he has a commercial business making these wonderful sculptures. The link above goes to his website and while he is now mostly retired for the second time he does occasionally create the kind of art I would love to have if I only had a home to put it into.