GREETINGS, FEEL FREE

TO

"SHOP NAKED."©

We deal in items we believe others will enjoy and want to purchase.

 We are not experts.

We welcome any comments, questions, or concerns.

WE ARE TARGETING A GLOBAL MARKET PLACE.

Thanks in advance for your patronage.

Please Be sure to add WDG to your favorites list!

NOW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE…

WONDERFULLY WHIMSICAL
WOODSMAN SANTA CLAUSE
FINE HAND CRAFTED
FOLK ART 
BY BRUCE & NANCY AITKEN
OF THE ALASKAN SLED SHED
NIKISKI, AK

LARGE HOLIDAY FIGURE
DEPICTS THE OUTDOORS MAN

SAINT NICH
FISHING
TRAPPING
HUNTING
AND DELIVERING THE GOODS
ON HIS RUSTIC DOG / DEER SLED

CHRISTMAS WREATHS

TEDDY BEARS

BALLS

A BIRCH CANOE AS A MANS CARRY-ALL

SACHEL

WARM FLEECE BLANKETS

AND MORE

THE LARGE DISPLAY PIECE
MEASURES ABOUT 26" x 20" x 8"
SIGNED UNDERSIDE
SUPERB MID CENTURY MODERN WORK
CIRCA 1988 +/-
RARE & COVETED TROPHY

Miniature dog sleds from Nikiski bring touch of Alaska to the world.

Carried away
Posted: Sunday, February 03, 2002
By McKibben Jackinsky
Silently tucked between yipping and howling dogs who eagerly tug at their harnesses and warmly clothed mushers whose shouted commands give the animals direction, sits a third member of this well-known team: the sled.
Without fame or glory, award or ribbon, it links dog and human together, making possible the designated task. Hauling meat from a winter hunt. Supplying medicine to a dying people. Crossing the finish line of a world-famous race. Exploring the Arctic's wide open spaces.
Its simple and graceful design is tangible evidence that such experiences are possible in a complicated and fast-paced world.
For Bruce and Nancy Aitken of Nikiski and their business partner, J. Pat Kennedy, constructing sleds isn't a dream. It's a way of life. Out of their workshop come hundreds of miniature sleds, perfectly fitted to whatever dream is destined to be carried in the red oak design.
Kennedy was introduced to sled-making during the 15 years he spent as a school administrator and teacher on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta.
"And at night I'd use the scraps from real sleds to do little miniatures," he said. He continued building the little sleds after moving to the Kenai Peninsula in 1988.
The Aitken family left their Oregon home and came to Alaska in 1991, after changes in the logging industry impacted their employment. Nancy is a former security guard and Bruce unloaded logging trucks. They met Kennedy when they moved into Nikiski Village, a mobile home neighborhood that Kennedy owned.
At first, Nancy and Bruce helped with maintenance at Nikiski Village. And when work was slow, they helped in Kennedy's shop. Although used to working with wood of much larger dimension, they discovered they had a knack for assembling the 12-, 16- and 24-inch sleds...

The rest of the story.
http://peninsulaclarion.com/stories/020302/peo_020302peo0010002.shtml#.Vj2IM9KrSig


 

----------------------------------------------

FYI

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins who, in many western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24. During the Christianization of Germanic Europe, this figure may have absorbed elements of the god Odin, who was associated with the pre-Christian midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. The modern figure of Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, which, in turn, was part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of Christian bishop and gift giver Saint Nicholas.
 
Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, joyous, white-bearded man—sometimes with spectacles—wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots (images of him rarely have a beard with no moustache). This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and of caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast. This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books and films.
 
According to a tradition which can be traced to the 1820s, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, with a large number of magical elves, and nine (originally eight) flying reindeer. Since the 20th century, in an idea popularized by the 1934 song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve. He accomplishes this feat with the aid of the elves who make the toys in the workshop and the reindeer who pull his sleigh.

Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Sinterklaas. He was a 4th century Greek Christian bishop of Myra (now Demre) in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany) he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. In 1087, the Italian city of Bari, wanting to enter the profitable pilgrimage industry of the times, mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Christian Saint and procure his remains. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was conquered by Italian sailors and the spoils, including his relics, taken to Bari where they are kept to this day. A basilica was constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout, thus justifying the economic cost of the expedition. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers, sailors, and children to pawnbrokers. He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow.

Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas and Sinterklaas, merged with the British character Father Christmas to create the character known to Britons and Americans as Santa Claus.
 
In the British colonies of North America and later the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving's History of New York (1809), Sinterklaas was Americanized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the American press in 1773) but lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving’s book was a lampoon of the Dutch culture of New York, and much of this portrait is his joking invention.

(THIS PICTURE FOR DISPLAY ONLY)

Thanks for choosing this sale. You may email for alternate payment arrangements. We combine shipping. Please pay promptly after the auction. The item will be shipped upon receipt of funds. WE ARE GOING GREEN, SO WE DO SOMETIMES USE CLEAN RECYCLED MATERIALS TO SHIP. 

Please leave feedback when you have received the item and are satisfied. Please respond when you have received the item * If you were pleased with this transaction, please respond with all 5 stars! If you are not pleased, let us know via e-mail. Our goal is for 5-star service. We want you to be a satisfied, return customer.

Please express any concerns or questions. More pictures are available upon request. The winning bid will incur the cost of S/H INSURED FEDEX OR USPS. See rate calculator or email FOR ESTIMATE. International Bidders are Welcome but be mindful if your country is excluded from safe shipping. 

 Thanks for perusing THIS and ALL our auctions.

Please Check out our other items!

WE like the curious and odd.

BUY, BYE!!