We recently had the chance to connect with Mark Caron and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Mark, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? Are you walking a path—or wandering?
Walking a path or wandering ? Well, in honesty neither. I prefer to float along in the river of life, steering where the currents make take me, and avoiding the rapids and hazards life may provide. The great Bruce Lee once said, “be like water”. And i have always taken that quote to heart. Water, like life, cannot be forced to anyones will. If you do, tragedy is sure to follow. So if we compare life to a river, and we want to paddle against the current, we grow tired and accomplish nothing. Instead if we allow out lives to flow with the current, we can steer in the right direction without stress or misfortune. We can arrive on a bank and find a new direction or just rest, we can launch back into life’s current when we desire safely and resume our journey and never suffer the misfortune of walking one path, or wandering without a destination.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Introduce yourself. Two words that inspire and deliver fear, usually both at the same time. Let’s give it a go! My name is Mark Caron and i am a sculptor and artist. My medium is wood and i use a lathe to create my artwork. For those who don’t know or skipped wood shop in high school, a lathe is a machine that turns a wood blank at high speed and the artist use’s a series of metal cutting chisels to remove bulk wood and to achieve the shape he or she desire’s. After shaping there is a lot of sanding and finish work to get to the finished product. A few things make my art different from the bowl you made in shop class. One, i only work with solid pieces of wood, no laminates. I want to show off the beauty of nature just as God intended. Second, I have adopted the Japanese art of kintsugi into my artwork. Kintsugi is the use of gold to repair broken pottery. The word kintsugi means “to repair what was broken”. I find the natural flaws in the ,wood and repair them not with gold, but with turquoise. That way i can blend both parts of nature into my artwork..
My story is the same of many artists. I discovered by accident that i had a talent and by trying and failing and trying and succeeding, my name and my art grew. More requests called for more work, which called for more talent which called for more hours. From there it was natural growth until i found a mentor that wold help guide me and help me grow.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Who was I before I got the wake up call from the world? Okay, you may need an extra page or more ink on this one, maybe an editor with a good filter and an even better sense of humor. In short, i was the sort of person your mother warned you about. A scoundrel, a ner do well, a ruffian or as my father would say, “a crude dude”. I was not a good student, i did not play well with others, Hell, i did not play at all. All of my early attempts to find who i was supposed to be failed, along with most of my interpersonal relationships. Tried and failed at most jobs until one day i answered an ad for “recovery specialist” wanted.
At the time we lived in Texas during the oil boom and a recovery guy was somme who worked in the oil fields. No experience and a strong back needed. I showed the advert to my father who then told me, “good place for you to start, dont come home un til you gat the job. Well, actually it was a job for an entry level repossession agent. No experience needed and all the insults hurled at you were free for the taking. My father was not happy, my few friends thought i had lost my mind and it introduced me to the guy i would become. Fierce, no fear, smart, problem solving and fast talking. Everything i liked, everything my father hated. But i stuck with it, and it became the career of my life. I always worked in the finance and collections industry for the next 35 years. It suited me. it checked all the boxes a person with poor communication skills needed. It allowed me to be a loner and still make a good living and grow into the person i always wanted to be. Over the years i got smarter, grew more business savvy and grew a business skills that only a few people could perform. I was king of my world. I met a beautiful woman, got married, had the family i always dreamed about and was pretty content.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Give up? That’s a loaded question. Give up learning how to play the piano? Yes, to the many thanks of the teachers who diligently tried to teach me. Give up on dating?, Sure. You try fishing for 60 year old fish with 60 year old bait and see just what you reel in. It’s scary.
Give up on my art? Every single morning until my hands warm up (arthritis) .
Give up on life?. Well that’s going to take some explaining., When my wife of 22 years was ill and there was no hope. giving up was never on my mind. I had to fight, i had to stay in the game for her sake. She was looking to me and i had to be there. After she passed? well that’s a long dark tunnel that has to be driven down before you can find the light at the end of it. And odd as it seems, there are exits in the tunnel, each more darker then the last. And yes, there is the exit that finds you sobbing on the kitchen floor wondering what the barrel of the gun will taste like. But on occasion, you get a new set of directions to your emotional GPS and find that the end of the tunnel el is close, and some of the oddest things will get you there, in one piece. Mine came from the mouth and mind of Anthony Bourdain. That’s right, a celebrity chef saved my life. Let me explain.
While in a really dark moment of grief, I had the television going for companionship and i was pondering joining my dearly departed wife. Just then the snarky voice of Anthony Bourdain came on the screen talking about “your body is not a temple, it’s a carnival ride, so enjoy the ride”. Silly as it may seem, it snapped me out of my funk and got my mind on enjoying what I had, not pouring what I lost. And from that moment, everything changed, for the better.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
A belief or project I’m committed to, no matter what? Well that’s easy! Being the best damn father in the world! And I know this would be a lot easier if i had kids. No, seriously!. Ive never been the half of a biological experiment of making a child. My wife had a little girl from a previous marriage and did not want anymore. And that little girl just despised my existence so the task of fatherhood stood like a dream in the distance. and then, it happened.
My eldest brother, Lenny was diagnosed with cancer and was not supposed to live for very long. My three other brothers and i made the trip to go visit him one last time in the hospital. And like most elder siblings, he had marching orders for all of us. The older of the three was told to “take care of Daddy”, the next in line was told to “take care of your brothers” and then me. He pulled me close and said his stepdaughter was “going to need a Dad” and you little brother are it. I gave his a weird look and was about to say something when he smiled and said “don’t worry, you will figure it out”. And well, I did.
Being her Dad has been the one thing that has kept me grounded and guessing every moment of every day. Questions, issues, problems, happy days, sad days, lonely days and everything in between, it’s always new, always a test and always appreciated. I will keep at this until the day i die, and when it happens, hopefully, i will have done my job and she can passion what i taught her to whoever needs it the most.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What will you regret not doing?
What will I regret not doing? Well, i would have to say traveling more. You learn such amazing lessons when you travel. The who, what, why and where of travel is the most important information a person can learn. Ever wonder who the average Japanese person was really like, day to day?, or not only what does a group of people eat, but why? What are those stories of humble ingredients and extraordinary love that turns them into a cherished meal? And the where? That’s the one with the most importance. Choosing a trip of discovery rather than comfort, to travel by public transportation rather than closed off in a car. What bits of magic are you missing? Do you know that after a lifetime of travel the cup of simple mushroom soup i had, standing in the snow in Switzerland was and is the most amazing and unforgettable meal of my life? That BBQ tastes better, eaten on the side of the road because it was prepared by a man, just trying to feed his family, using the recipes his family passed down? See the world, so you can really see the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.markcaron.com
- Instagram: Mark Caron Wood Art
- Facebook: Mark Caron Wood Art
Image Credits
Photography by Natasha Murano
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