Left Hand Laurel - Jeff Wolcott

The Niwot community is home to artists of all sorts. The area's painters, writers, dancers, musicians, potters, sculptors and others enrich Niwot and do what they can to give back to the town.

Niwot resident and woodworker Jeff Wolcott exemplifies this inclination. He not only appreciates living here, but he answered the call when he was asked to be part of the effort to restore Spear Lodge Man, and the other iconic Native American tree carvings that are located on Niwot Road near the intersection with N. 79th Street.

Wolcott's story of contributing to the town and being part of the sculpture restoration started when he realized his wife would support a move from Boulder to an area farm. They were renting out a condo as a B&B when he realized that he didn't want to move into the condo once he retired.

"I realized I need more things to do," Wolcott said. "I told my wife, 'If something happened to you, I'd sell this condo and buy a farm,' (and) she said 'why wait?' With that, we bought a farm just east of 95th on Niwot Road. It's been quite an adventure."

Wolcott shared that the house had been built in 1906 and rehabbed over the years. The previous owner was a cabinet maker who had created a cabinet shop in the barn. "I kept thinking I didn't deserve it, so I knew I needed to find a nonprofit to share it with," he said.

Reading an article in the Courier four years ago set him on his current artistic path. It was about Warriors Storyfield, a metal sculpture studio which, even more importantly, provides a safe environment for veterans to recover from the impacts of war. He joined this community, ultimately working there a few days a week for nearly two years. This gave him the skills to help restore Niwot's sculptures.

Initially, Wolcott thought maybe he could squirt some epoxy on the sculptures to preserve them. When the sculptures made their way to his barn, he found that wasn't enough. "It was not even close," he said. "I got it all the way in the shop, I started looking at it and it was really intimidating. I said I could do it, but I started to wonder how. Ultimately, I made a steel neck on the horse with rods to hold the horse's head up. Once we built a spine for the horse, there were pieces of the horse that were rotted away. We filled it in using some of the wood chips from the base that was structurally sound. We soaked them in epoxy."

He didn't work alone. Dustin Wolf, son of the late original sculptor Eddie Running Wolf, started working with him last May. Wolcott praises his partner's work. "He's been a wonderful help. He's a really fine artist. As we worked, I would rough it out and then he would fine carve. I learned a lot from him."

The work on the first sculpture is almost finished, but Wolcott and Wolf have realized that the work won't stand up on its own, now that it's not attached to a tree that's rooted in the ground. Instead, they are creating a steel cradle for it, that will allow it to rest upright. Robert Bellows from Warrior Storyfield has advised on this, and the cradle will include a depiction of The Rocky Mountains, including Pike's Peak, which was beloved by Eddie Running Wolf.

Once work on Spear Lodge Man is finished, Wolcott and Wolf will work on the other two sculptures, Eagle Catcher and Cheyenne Holy Man. He anticipates this next task will be easier. "They don't have near the rot problems that Spear Lodge Man did," said Wolcott.

Wolcott was appreciative of people community-wide, including Chuck Klueber, Biff Warren, Deb Fowler, Anne Postle, Lisa Rivard, Dave Lee and Jim Fudge, who are helping with it. The Niwot Cultural Arts Association has formed a committee which is working out where the tree carvings will be permanently displayed, and creating a structure that will protect them from the elements in the future. A fundraising effort to cover the cost is in the planning stages. "Niwot is very generous. If you look at what they raised for Whistle Stop Park and the kids park, I have no doubt it will happen, " said Wolcott.

Wolcott considered how lucky he was to choose to purchase his farm and join the community. He said, "I love this place. There are so many incredible people. And our neighbors all around us are really really pleasant humans. We're really grateful to be there."

He calls his current project nothing short of an unexpected pleasure. "I love going out there and spending two or three hours just scraping away at him and looking at what I've accomplished. I never get tired of it. Looking forward to doing the other two."