Michelle Wanat’s path to being a working artist has more bumps and bends than the gnarly wooden branches she now fashions into striking but functional domestic tools. With her business Apothecarve, she offers crafted pieces that she sells through her online shop and at regional art festivals and galleries: slotted cooking spoons, herb strippers, honey spindles, salad servers, textured charcuterie boards, and all-purpose spreaders. Wanat also hosts spoon- and hand-broom-crafting workshops. “The pieces are made to be used daily, because every day is a special occasion,” she says.
Wanat grew up in the small town of Marengo, Illinois, northwest of Chicago. “Our downtown was surrounded by cornfields,” she recalls. Nearing graduation, she considered college, but instead a friend talked her into touring the local cosmetology school. “The irony was that she bailed, and I ended up attending,” says Wanat. “I’ve done hair for many years and currently combine my salon work with my art business, though I dream of doing my art full time.”
The skillsets are remarkably similar: “I create shapes as I cut hair, the same as when I whittle wood,” she explains. “It’s all about knowing how much to take off and where — because you can’t put back hair or wood.”
Apothecarve was born following a series of unlikely events that meant more time at home: the pandemic shutdown, a frightening nerve injury she sustained during the birth of her first baby that extended her maternity leave (Wanat is currently pregnant with her second child), and a felled apple tree, thanks to a severe Christmas Eve ice storm.
“My husband said, ‘You’ve wanted to learn how to make a spoon: Here’s the wood!’ … I had no clue what I was doing, but had nothing to lose.” She ordered a spoon-carving book, whittling knives, and an axe, and started in. She learned about the perils of using wet, “green” wood, and continues to prefer the sustainably sourced hardwoods found in local abundance — air or kiln dried for up to two years to prevent cracking.
Wanat shares a Weaverville studio space with her husband, who makes wooden fishing lures. She’s eagerly branched out from her original core collection, reimagining the look and feel of traditionally ho-hum household tools — think small hand brooms, whisks, scoops, and pan scrapers — that she’ll exhibit during the Weaverville Art Safari driving tour in November.
“I’m drawn to simple shapes and primitive forms, and aim to create modern heirlooms,” Wanat says. “‘Was this made now or 100 years ago?’ is the vibe I’m going for.”
Michelle Wanat, Mars Hill, Apothecarve, work available at Foundation Woodworks (17 Foundy St., River Arts District; at Flow (14 South Main St., Marshall; and at the Cold Mountain Art Collective (33 Adams St., Canton. The artist will exhibit at 60 Clarks Chapel Road for the Weaverville Art Safari Saturday, Nov. 4 and Sunday, Nov. 5, 10am-5pm. See weavervilleartsafari.com for a map and for more information and apothecarve.com for a list of the artist’s other fall events.