The timber tells him

Few people make a living out of what they love doing the most, and Alan Cherry is proud to be one of them. The 57-year-old Pakenham man of many talents and experiences makes a living through art and song.
He successfully runs a business where he handcrafts sculptures and other creations out of pieces of timber that most people use as firewood and sells them on his website.
“I can see things; I can see the end result in a piece of timber that’s just lying there. I’d create something out of that as a piece of table art or functional art,” Alan said.
“I do a lot of free form sculpting, I do fruit platters, a lot of individual things because the timber tells me what it wants to be at the end of the day.”
Drawing and painting are other things he loves to do, and he would often add a unique touch to his works by sticking things like timber, bark, stones and mirrors to his paintings.
“I work with a lot of mediums,” Alan said.
“I work with rusty corrugated iron, and combine that with timber. I like painting, I’ve used pastel, acrylics, I do some airbrushing, and I do heaps of drawings.”
Everything is very much a visual thing for Alan, who would draw and paint wildlife and landscapes. He would sometimes use timber as part of his art, as well as bark, stone and a range of other media to create his wall art.
Alan is also a recording artist, with a string of albums under his belt, so it’s no surprise that he considers singing as what he does best.
However, despite singing being one of the things Alan enjoyed the most, he admitted that it was a hard line of work and as a result, he would focus on timber crafts.
“It’s a pretty tough road, being an artist, and being an entertainer for that matter,” Alan admitted.
“I was singing full-time for 14 years, but I was also doing my timber craft as a subsidy income in my artwork. Hobbies pay for hobbies. If you’re doing it for a living then you have to sell.
“We thought that we would try and (sing) full-time, but it’s very hard to utilise it as a full-time vocation.”
Alan knows how to make the most out of his talent and put it to good use. He volunteered to perform at fund-raising concerts to raise money for victims of the Black Saturday bushfires.
“We sang at a lot of fund-raising concerts, we had a lot of concerts just to entertain the people who were dislodged out of their homes,” he said.
“I was involved in the Marysville and Murrindindi fires. That was pretty traumatic. You sort of pick up the pieces and start again, as you do.
“And those people who have been involved in the floods, you can’t stop. It’s tragic – a lot of people lose everything.
“You just can’t stop. You’ve got to pick up the pieces and reinvent your life. I’ve had to do that a couple of times.”
Alan was dealt a harsh blow to his music career when he lost part of his finger polishing a timber sculpture around six months ago, but that didn’t stop him from performing, or even playing the guitar.
Being able to play the guitar was his primary concern and he didn’t even pass a thought about how he was going to hold his tools.
“I’ve been playing it since I was about 12 years old,” Alan said.
“I had to play my guitar at a function the following week.
“I’m back to playing now. They said it would take 12 months (to heal) but I was back playing after three to four weeks.”
Alan’s love of art and music started at a young age and he has been painting, drawing and sculpting for most of his life. The arts were how he and his siblings kept themselves amused on the farms back when he was younger.
“We didn’t have TV in those days,” he said.
“We were creative, we had to create our own fun and we made craft things out of timber.”
Art and music very much dominates Alan’s background, which is further proven by the artists and musicians in both sides of his family.
“I inherited (my talent) from them,” he said.
“That’s my passion – creating. I’m not happy unless I’m creating something, whether it is music or an art piece. My life is a passion for creating.”
Alan said he looked forward to more singing and creating more artworks.
He will be going on tour in March to perform in various parts of Western Australia, and seeking new timbers to work with along the way.
“(The tour) is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so that’s the plan,” Alan said
“There are all sorts of different timbers in the west so I’m keen to do a little bit of collecting along the way; I’ve got a big trailer that I’ll be taking.
“It will be fun. It’s a new journey and I’m looking forward to it.”