Friday, January 8, 2010

R.I.P. Stephen Huneck

This is so sad.

The world lost a fabulous guy yesterday when artist and all-around-nice-guy Stephen Huneck killed himself.

Stephen who was famous for his superior artistry in wood carvings, of dogs!, was despondent over having to lay off staff at his Vermont art gallery called Dog Mountain and fearful over losing the establishment altogether.

From the AP:
"A native of Sudbury, Mass., he started out whittling wooden sculptures and later dog-themed furniture, like the wooden pews eventually installed in the chapel, which he built in 2000, a miniature version of the 19th-century churches that dot Vermont's landscape.

Built of wood harvested from his 175-acre Dog Mountain property, it had vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows with images of dogs pieced into them.

"Welcome all creeds, all breeds. No dogmas allowed," says the sign outside.

"When dogs pull up in here, they may never have been here before, but it's like they saw the 'Disneyland' sign," said Huneck in a 2008 interview with The Associated Press. "They just get so excited, so happy," he said.

Anyone who goes out his way to make dogs happy is aces with us.
Our condolences to his family, friends, supporters and staff.

Picture from Stephen's website. Stephen and his dog's Artimus, Molly and Heidi in front of the Dog Chapel on Dog Mountain, St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Dog Mountain Art Gallery
Abc news article
Dog Chapel Story Wonderful!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There are no words for this other than God Bless Him!!