Subscribe to the Daily Globe

Your Local Connection

print article Print     e-mail photogallery E-mail
Published May 16, 2011, 12:00 AM

Fred Cogelow's Woodcarving Creations

Willmar woodcarver Fred Cogelow has nearly a dozen pieces on display at the Rock County Veteran's Memorial Building through June 3.


A play on words with well-known Betty's Pies along the North Shore, this exhibit is crafted from an image Cogelow witnessed at the McDonald's restaurant in Two Harbors. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)

  • A play on words with well-known Betty's Pies along the North Shore, this exhibit is crafted from an image Cogelow witnessed at the McDonald's restaurant in Two Harbors. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)
  • Can you see the resemblance between this carving and a certain Minnesota senator, Al Franken? This is called Franken'Stein's Son because the first version is actually in the possession of the senator. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)
  • Former President George W. Bush rests one foot atop Saddam Hussein's noosed head, and the other on the globe as Osama bin Laden attempts to light the bomb fuse. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)
  • Also known as dei Gratia Georgicus III, this carving was dreamed up after Cogelow gave a Norwegian friend with an unusually large head a paper crown from Burger King. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)
  • Likely Cogelow's fourth and final life-sized statue, Penny depicts an octogenarian with a walking stick in one hand and a checkbook in the other. The top of the walking stick features the likeness of Andrew Melon, the banker who inspired the Monopoly game. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)
  • (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)
  • Otherwise known as, It's your Spark Plug, Dummy. Inspired by a man from Nevis who owned a shop, Bud's Repair. "He thought I was an absolute idiot, so I honored his contempt for me," said woodcarver Fred Cogelow. (Julie Buntjer/Daily Globe)