photo by Brian Blair
Chainsaw Artist chris trotter
~ by Brian Blair
As folks stop to watch local chainsaw artist Chris Trotter work at his corner of Nashville’ s Antique Alley behind the Brown County Playhouse, they might think his Wooden Wonders are“ tree-mendous”— carved from white oaks, pines, sassafras— you name it. They might even describe them as studies in“ Stihl life,” courtesy of the saw slicing the hunks of wood into shape as eagles, owls, Native American chieftains, or wizards.
He’ s even recently carved a likeness of Indiana
University football coach Curt Cignetti. Chris describes his work as“ intense.” He bears the scars— a four-inch gash on his left forearm and a smaller gash on his left quadricep— as a testimony to the focused, spinning anger of tools that sometimes lurch out of control.
50 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2026
The result of all the intensity could sell for a few hundred up to a few thousand dollars.
His highest-priced work, a 30-foot totem pole, sold for $ 20,000 and a rearing horse brought $ 6,000— rewards earned from both experience and hard work.
“ There is definitely a learning curve with this,” said the 51-year-old Nashville resident who first began whittling knife carvings for relatives at age 25.“ This is like playing the guitar. You’ ve got to work and work to be good at it.”
His carpentry experience in home building— from crafting crown molding to constructing stairways— gave him a strong foundation for shaping wood. As the housing market plunged, his adapted skills were poised to take off in a different direction.
For commissioned pieces, often carved on a buyer’ s property, he begins by studying a photograph. Before