I have been carving stone and wood for over 45 years. My Father, Pete and I shared a shop for 20 years. During this time I learned as much from him as I could. He was a good teacher. I miss him dearly. Now I am teaching my son Shawn who is the fifth generation of Labbe's to carve. Shawn has been carving part time for around 20 years or so.

I am labeled a quasi cubistic sculptor, I rarely carve in a realistic fashion. My pieces are more symbolic. I think in my past life I designed automobile hood ornaments in the 20's and 30's. My pieces are designed to create a recognizable theme. I enjoy the expression in a very simple but effective design, I achieve this by using rhythmic lines and shadows to create the image.

I carve primarily Alberta wildlife, mainly birds of prey. I select the piece of stone and make a wax maquette to fit the stone before carving. I prefer stone with the hardness of alabaster. This allows me to grind and hand finish with rasps, files and sanding. Pryrophyllite, chlorite and alabasters are slow to carve and this is reflected in the price ranging from $650.00 up to $10,000.00. As an example if I made a soapstone Loon 16" long it would be carved and finished in less than a week. With the chlorite, alabaster or pryrophyllite it takes me approximately 2 weeks to do a similar carving. My production is 1 to 3 pieces per month while larger pieces may take 2 months or longer.

I will post photos of my wax maquettes while in progress and then the final piece on my page of the Gust Gallery website. If you are interested in a piece while in progress click here to send an email for additional information.

Presently in Alberta I am selling in Websters Galleries, Calgary and Gust Gallery, Waterton Lakes National Park. I have a piece in the Centennial Museum of Ottawa and in Nichols Museum of Calgary. I have also shown
successfully in New York.