Alexander Grabovetskiy (born July 4, 1973) is a

Russian-American Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russians, Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian diaspora, Russian imm ...

Master

wood carver Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

. Grabovetskiy was recognized as the 2012 International Wood Carver of the year, and his piece ''Wall Decoration'' was awarded first place. His work utilizes the same approaches used for centuries by master woodcarvers, including techniques employed by

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and other ...

In 2015 Alexander Grabovetskiy was Editors’ Choice to be Awarded wit
Woodworking Excellence
in category: Turnings, Carvings & Objets d’Art by Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Biography

Grabovetskiy was born on July 4, 1973, in the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n town of Dimitrovgrad. His grandfather taught him basic woodcarving techniques at six-years old, and at 16 he was taken on as an apprentice by renowned carver Vladimir Tokarev. Due to his faith and his refusal to enlist in the

Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

, Grabovetskiy was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities. He was freed after two years as part of an

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

campaign for prisoners of faith incarcerated by the USSR. In prison he began a business making furniture and kitchen sets, and finding no work upon his release at the age of 21 years, he continued on to run his own woodworking enterprise. In 1996, Grabovetskiy immigrated as a

political refugee The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another entit ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

together with his wife Nadia and their 10-month-old son. The woodworking and custom home building business that he established in

Goshen, Indiana Goshen ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka ...

, Aalmark LLC, employed a number of expert craftsmen who were also Christian refugees from the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. He currently works in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

Teaching Wood Carving

Alexander teaches woodcarving online and woodcarving in person Alexander Grabovetskiy covers, in detail, a different form for every class he teaches. So he has a large following who take many of his classes because they learn something new each time while reinforcing the basics. They have found that this is the best way to rapidly improve their

carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

ability. Multiple Woodworking Schools offer his classes " carving in Person.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabovetskiy, Alexander 1973 births 20th-century Russian sculptors 20th-century American male artists 21st-century Russian sculptors Living people American cabinetmakers American Christian clergy American evangelicals American woodcarvers People from Boca Raton, Florida Artists from Charlotte, North Carolina People from Goshen, Indiana People from Dimitrovgrad, Russia People from Union County, North Carolina Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by the Soviet Union Refugees in the United States Russian emigrants to the United States Russian Christians Russian engravers Russian evangelicals Russian refugees Russian male sculptors 20th-century American printmakers Soviet prisoners and detainees 20th-century Russian male artists 21st-century Russian male artists