Carving magic in Burlingame

“This was just something that seemed fun,” he said of his creations. As a 23-year veteran with the city’s parks service, he said his woodworking skills became known in the department and he was asked to bring new life to the stumps that would otherwise need to be dug out.

“I’m not an artist, I’m just good with toys,” he said. “This is what happens when you play with chain saws for a living.”

He said the bunny house and bench were carved last year from two oak trees, and the recently completed wishing well was formed from a cedar removed last year.

The carvings are painted, varnished and burned with a torch for added accents. Delanay said the wishing well took about 20 hours, completed over the course of a few weeks in his spare time.

“Conceptually, it’s in my head, I don’t draw anything down,” he said. “If I can see it in my head I can come up with a game plan.”

The carvings have already been well received by parkgoers, Parks and Recreation Director Margaret Glomstad said, who added they have brought joy to visitors “young and old.”

“We are proud of his work to repurpose trees that had to be removed but now [will not be] forgotten,” she said.

Delaney said he got the knack for carving by making Tahitian-style drums for his daughter, who is a Hula dancer, in addition to yard art for his home, sometimes on his lunch break or after work. He later began carving items like mushrooms and pumpkins to be painted by children attending classes offered in conjunction with the parks department and school district.

“When you get better at it you just make it bigger,” he said, noting also the increased complexity of his most recent work, the wishing well.

The lighthouse would be the tallest of the carvings, and Delanay said it could even include a light at the top. The redwood tree, near the parks playground, is being removed to prevent it from growing into power lines overhead.

The other trees, Delaney said, were removed due to concerns they were ailing. He said there has been interest in adding his carving to other parks in the city but that a tree would first need to come down.

“We’re trying not to take the trees out, if they’re healthy enough then they’re all staying,” he said. “As of now all the trees in the other parks seem to be nice.”

With Delaney’s help, the city also recently installed a collection of benches and tables within the park near Burlingame Avenue using wood recycled from a tree removed in Victoria Park. Delaney said the benches were entirely assembled by city staff, and also use recycled metal.

Washington Park, the city’s oldest, last month also got another art installation in the form of two wooden arches that pay homage to Anson Burlingame, the city’s namesake. The arches were constructed by woodworkers in Santa Cruz partially using recycled wood reclaimed from the CZU Lightning Complex fires of 2020.

Delaney said during his time with the department, he’s helped others learn woodworking. He said he’s looking forward to his retirement next year to spend more time at his property in Placerville.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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