Scott: Living in the Moment

In aviation, a ‘moment’ is calculated by multiplying the weight of an object by its arm or the force that tries to cause an object to rotate. To Scott Dow, it’s a giant piece of equipment that he and a buddy made by hand, so he could remain true to his craft. A piece he later named after that buddy who “flew in to help him.”

“Moments with Jake,” is scrawled across a long, rust-colored metal beam in the center of his small workshop. The piece glides effortlessly back and forth and rotates by a firm but gentle push from Scott in any direction.

“You wanna hear how loud it gets?” he says with a smirk and without time to give him an answer, he powers it up. With each small crank he gives, the louder and more powerful this scrap metal - welded together piece of equipment gets. “Just a couple guys drinking together and making a solution.”

That solution has proven to be very successful.

After attending Edinboro University for art and not being entirely sure what to do next, Scott moved to Corry in 1996 for a job at his father-in-law’s specialty decorative glass company. From being a young artist, to working as a furniture designer, he eventually found his way into chainsaw carving. Fifteen years ago, Scott opened his workshop and art studio where Corry meets Elgin, at the intersection of Route 6 and PA-89.

The parking lot in front of the shop gives plenty of space for displaying Scott’s unique, larger than life carvings. The great, open field beside it has made for picturesque opportunities for locals and travelers driving by and Scott has been known to plop a zombie or bigfoot there to make it look like they are coming out of the field.

“Wood carving is immediate permanency,” he says. A moment captured forever.

While Scott likes that permanency, he also likes that this form of art pays. He laughs when he mentions anything about selling his pieces, noting that isn’t what it’s all about. But he enjoys with his carving that there is no middleman. There are no extra steps he must go through to get his art to a customer like so many other artforms. He was able to make sales immediately when he started chainsaw carving and kept making money, “a little bit and one bear at a time.”

Although it seems every chainsaw carver starts by making those bears, few can and do ever compete at the same level as Scott. He also prides himself on authentically making each piece without the advances of CNC or AI. Yes, he’s a carver, but more so, he’s an artist.

“Sometimes you just see something in the wood and have to make it,” he said. “How can you sell something if you don’t show the range of what you can do?”

Indications of his artistic eye and range are everywhere in his shop and gallery. Besides the wood carvings that vary in size from taller than Scott himself to small figurines on a shelf, the wall space is almost entirely covered in an ongoing black and white collage project. And he has drawings and clay moldings, all that effortlessly capture the female form in one way or another. His carvings are unbelievable, especially knowing they are made by him and some tools alone. But walking around his space, seeing each of the ways he can express himself through art, recognizing how incredible each piece is, it becomes obvious that this is what talent looks like.

Talent that was almost stolen from us.

Scott is no stranger to overcoming hardships. While running a business and raising three kids with his wife, he has also beat cancer multiple times over. He called that period of his life “a giant pain in the ass” and for anyone whose life has been touched by cancer, there is no other way to explain it. But Scott also explains that time as only holding him back from things he wanted to do…temporarily.

“You get two lives. Your second one starts when you realize you only have one to live,” he said.

About halfway through our interview, Scott’s sister stops by for a visit. We all welcome her in and with such a familial reverence in the room, the sawdust and 80’s Rock-filled space feels a little cozier by her being there. When he pauses in some of his answers, she finishes or responds for him. She brags about his work and fighting spirit more than he let on himself, much like sisters tend to do. He looks over at her and smiles at the details she fills in through the rest of our conversation.

Obviously enough, Scott enjoys his visitors. He mentions his youngest daughter, Maggie, stopping by occasionally with a coffee for him and some time to kill as something that can always turn his day around. “The sun actually shining around here is plenty, but those visits really make me happy.”

A moment he loves to live in.

That’s when we learned that Maggie is the reason behind Scott’s work going viral on Instagram. Without full knowledge from her dad, Maggie made an account and began running it for him. What picked up traction the most were tables that Scott began making using the “Moments with Jake” equipment.

“Unless Joe Rogan or Snoop Dogg liked it, I didn’t care about going viral on Instagram,” Scott said.

These tables are surreal in their design (and considering Scott showed us how the tool works and how it must be led by his hand to carve) they are in their execution as well. When he began making these tables, that all have some animal, creature, or object poking out in spots but are otherwise entirely smooth on top, he realized they were his full circle moment. Formerly making a living by building furniture, then to carving, and now a combining of the two. The first one he made and sold in November 2022 was of a crocodile swimming and peeking out of the water.

Photos by Morgan Phelps

Sure enough, not too much later, Joe Rogan did like it.

Joe Rogan is an American UFC commentator, former television host of Fear Factor, and currently most known for his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. The first thing he bought from Scott in 2023 was one of those tables with a snake slithering through it for his podcast studio. Scott told us the story of what it was like loading up his truck and driving that piece to Austin, Texas where Joe’s studio is, having to unload it on a busy street, and cutting it right there on the sidewalk because it was too large to get in the door and upstairs. Joe has since bought more tables and Scott has learned to travel more prepared.

Quite a moment for someone who didn’t know what direction to go after college.

Scott allowed us to wander all throughout the studio and property when we finished up the interview. He kept saying, “oh check this out,” as he saw a piece he was excited about or in process of finishing up. And was humble in his demeanor as we complimented the pieces we each liked best. We could’ve stayed to examine each piece of art all day.

The freedom this allows him to take as an artist and a business owner is what Scott said was his favorite part about what he’s able to create.

“Living in this moment right now, as an artist, this is what it’s about.”