We've been getting a great deal of requests to post Bibb "Out of the Box," editions. Many of these are already on Bibblogger but the first year's run have yet to be included so we're going to start from the beginning. Here is the first ever edition of our beloved feature series entitled Bibb 'Out of the Box." Enjoy.
Bibb ‘out of the box’
featuring Tim Tingle
The man who brings wood to life
By Daniel L. Bamberg
Daniel@Centrevillepress.com
Tim Tingle is a simple man. If you were to pass him on the street it would be hard to
imagine that this humble but well spoken person was full of so much
creativity and inspiration. The
fact is he is a coal miner, a farmer, a wood carver, and a published
novelist. He is a world traveler who has visited Israel, Egypt, Peru, many locations in South America and
Europe. Mr. Tingle and his wife Nanette, live virtually in limbo of Bibb and Shelby counties. Though the couple consider themselves residents of Shelby County, he can literally walk to the end of his driveway
and be in Bibb County. Whether or
not he is a citizen of Bibb or Shelby is not really a matter. His creativity, passion, and reputation
is that which would well serve any community for adopting him. For today we are going to call him one
of ours.
Tim Tingle was born the son of a farmer in Tennessee and
grew up most of his life near Montevallo, Alabama. He was educated at the University of Montevallo. He married
young, had five children and based on his dedications in his novels is still
very much in love and close to his wife.
He’s intellectually stimulating, but common enough in heart to relate
to anyone. If you take a short
drive to uptown Montevallo, then take a right off the beaten trail you will run
into Orr Park. Here you will
encounter a man’s wonderful charm without ever meeting him directly.
The wooded area of this park is
called “Tingle Woods”, named and presented by the University of Montevallo in
1997 for the man who began carving faces and various other images into the dead
portions of trees since 1993. He’s
been doing it ever since and contributes at least one new piece each year. Tim has also been asked to
appear at County Fairs, FFA gatherings and other events to demonstrate his wood
carving talent.
For those that have never seen Orr Park imagine for
a moment. First you cross over a
bridge that covers a creek which leads to a spillway. Upon crossing you enter a wooded area and begin treading the perimeter on an asphalt walk way which will eventually
lead up to the very scenic jogging trail.
At first the beauty of a natural hillside and a few carefully placed
trees (whether by God or man) set a picturesque and tranquil tone. It is a distant beauty beyond the
woods. Suddenly an odd face in a
tree is staring at you. You stop
to look around and another face is peeking at you from behind some trees. Within moments you forget about the
beautiful hillside and begin on a mission to find these odd faces.
You then discover a dragon, a wizard,
an Indian, a squirrel, a gnome, a fish devouring some sort of sea serpent, a
horse head, a unicorn, and a woman some call “mother nature," all whittled in the trees.
As Mr. Tingle himself stated, “there is
so much here and it blends in so well it becomes much like an Easter egg hunt”. Oddly enough there is even an
interpretive wooden sculpture carved by Tim of the famous Moai statues from
Easter Island. It is virtually
impossible for anyone who is familiar with any sort of craftsmanship to not
stare in awe. Tim’s carvings are like
poetically visual epitaphs to that of nature’s wonderful trees. It is the transfiguration of a tree
where some of the wood has become dead which does not harm the living portion.
“When I was a kid I would whittle on sticks and that got bigger as I
got older," recalled Tingle. "In 1993 there was an
ice storm. A lot of these cedar
trees (in Orr Park) broke down.
Cedar during the winter will hold ice more than most trees. So I asked if I could come to help
clean some of the mess up in the park and if they would let me keep some of the
wood. They told me because the
land was donated they couldn’t let me do that. So I asked if I could carve on a stump and leave it in the
park. I carved the horse head and
they didn’t object so I carved another, and another. I’ve kept carving and they haven’t put me in jail yet. I enjoy working with wood. A lot of people have come up with their
own names for some of my carvings and sculptures and I appreciate that they
have a personal connection with it.”
Tim is also a novelist. He is the author of several published works including an ongoing serial he calls, "The Travis Lee series."
“I
work in the mines and there is a lot of down time," said Tingle. "I’ve incorporated my own experiences in travel and my own
imagination into my stories. I read a lot of books in the
mines during down time and figured I could write as good if not better than
some of these people. So I decided
to write one and that became more.”
A new edition to the ongoing Travis Lee novel series is set to come
out towards the later part of this year.
His books are available to purchase online at Amazon.com and
AuthorHouse.com. You can also find
some of his books in the Montevallo Public Library.
Tim seemed to be humble when being addressed as an artist
though he gave his own opinion on the importance of art in every form.
“It is an escape and people need escape," he said. "In times like these, they need it. It gives them a chance to be somewhere
else. Not just in writing but in
even looking at a painting. It’s
an escape and yes I think that is important. Art helps develop imagination and
a child’s ability to learn.”
Tim Tingle has recently been contacted by the Bibb County
Board of Education to submit a carving of a Choctaw Indian which will sit inside the gym. He is set to begin
the work in April and this future work of art will be presented in August of
this year, thus leaving his mark here in our home. According to Mr. Tingle the Board is looking to purchase or
have donated a cedar, bass, or black gum log, 6 to 8 feet in length. There is indeed more to Bibb County
than meets the eye. Some of us
take our small community for granted sometimes. If you look beyond the surface however you’ll find unique
and interesting people like Tim Tingle living and working in Bibb, out of the
box.
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