Today we’d like to introduce you to Casey Mccaughn
Hi Casey, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
You don’t have to be a great big person in order to do great big things! Coming in at 5’2” nobody ever guesses that I do Chainsaw Woodcarving along with numerous other kinds of art. I’ve always been an artist. I’ll never hear the end of it how I painted my grandmother’s couch at the age of one. All through childhood I did very nice realistic drawing and painting regular art kind of stuff. But when I was sixteen I looked at a carved wooden chair and I decided that I could do that. We’re not going to do the math how many years have passed since I was 16 and now. Not many 16 year olds get a utility knife and carve flowers into a piece of wood without any instruction from anybody. When you just keep making art, year after year, it starts to add up. So when you pass the half a century mark you start running out of places to put things. You can see all the different art projects and mediums through the years at CaseyStardust.com. Basically you just keep doing what you do, keep being who you are, and every decade or so you get lucky. I moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and I tried everything a person can do in this town. Acting, Singing, Stand-Up, Writing, Publicity and of course my art. In the 80’s and 90’s I was a celebrity coordinator for the Women In Film Festival. I also recorded with Butch Trucks of the Allman Bros in his Tallahassee FL. In 2000 I produced a play called “Seven Souls” that the LA Weekly said was “Extremely well written.” In 2007 I pulled into a woodcarving place on the side of the road and asked them if they needed any wood carvers. That’s when I started using the chainsaw and my work got a lot bigger. During this time I managed to get a meeting with Grief Productions to pitch a reality show called Chainsaw Chicks. It was a go for a while but in the end the deal fell through. My Mom passed away a few weeks before that so the combined whammy really put me in a bad place. I felt like I had to DO something. Take some kind of action to process what had happened to me. So I made about 100 phone calls and contacted Griffith Park and offered to “donate” a woodcarving of Bigfoot. City councilman Tom LaBonge didn’t want a Bigfoot but he did want a sculpture of Engineer Casey Jones and in 2009 I did a 14-foot sculpture of Casey Jones in Travel Town of Griffith Park. (Photos on Website CaseyStardust.com) In 2012 I came into a large quantity of black walnut wood and I wanted to carve a legend. I did a life size sculpture of Oprah Winfrey and I tweeted to bring it to her attention and she currently has that sculpture and gave me a shout out on the Ellen Show. I have also done carvings for Star Wars Mandalorian, season 2 episode 1, What/If with Renee Zelweiger , Matchmaker Santa and others. In 2023 I did a six-foot sculpture called The Essence of Being featured on the ABC News. Now I’m experimenting with various media to discover my next passion.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The obstacles come from so much competition for everything. Obstacles come from Stereotypes that short little ladies can’t do big sculptures. Obstacles come from having to make choices and pay the rent and going every day to a job I hate with so little time left over to do what I love. Obstacles come from the snobs at the art galleries who would rather sell you a pile of junk with a slice of baloney than real art. Yes. There were obstacles.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Please check out CaseyStardust.com – My work stands out for it’s size – (14 feet tall) numerous large pieces and for the level of realism and craftsmanship. Stunningly beautiful pieces made of wood with the most exquisite grain.
It blows people minds when I show people the pictures. They see a little lady and then I show them the photos it it greatly exceeds anything they could have imagined.
I’m most proud of the 14 foot Casey Jones in Travel Town because it is a little bit of LA History.
Thousands of people go through that park every month and see my sculpture.
I also am glad to be part of Star Wars. When I saw the chairs I made on Mandalorian and Boba Fett, I felt like my art had made it to another planet. Even though it was really Burbank.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Real Hand-Made art is going the way of the dinosaurs. With AI and digital everything combined with CNC and 3D printing, for a real person to sit down and render something is becoming more and more rare.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://CaseyStardust.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CaseyStardust
- Youtube: http://youtube.com/user/cherubwing or handle: @CaseyStardust
Image Credits
I am an expert at working the camera even when I am in front of it. All of my photos were taken by me or with the camera on a tripod.
