When lightning struck and killed a majestic 100-year-old oak tree in the Ox Bottom Reserve neighborhood, residents faced the heartbreaking loss of their beloved centerpiece. The massive live oak, measuring over six feet in diameter with three sturdy trunks grown together, had been instantly robbed of perhaps its next century of life by a powerful lightning bolt during a violent storm several months ago.
However, what began as a tragedy transformed into an inspiring story of artistic resurrection. Diane Hughes, an Ox Bottom Reserve resident, recalls how Miller Tree Service, while removing the dead branches, suggested there might be a way to make lemonade out of the lightning strike. Their recommendation was simple: call John Birch.
John Birch, whose name might initially evoke political connotations but carries none, is Tallahassee's renowned wood sculptor who has spent three decades transforming discarded timber into heartwarming scenes of Americana, touching family moments, and even religious statues worthy of altars. With his chainsaw, colorful imagination, and sheer artistry, Birch can turn a forlorn pillar of soon-to-be pulp into meaningful art.
For the 27 homeowners in Ox Bottom Reserve, Birch created his latest masterpiece: a sculpture depicting a family scene where a little boy has scaled a tree limb to rescue a cat, supervised by a worried-looking mother and a small sister who appears preoccupied with what might be inside a hole in the tree. The sculpture captures a quintessential moment of childhood adventure and family care.
Birch's journey to becoming a full-time artist began in an unexpected way. A former prosthetic and computer technician, he may have had sawdust under his fingernails from birth, as his father was a carpenter and contractor. However, young John wasn't initially interested in art or sculpting, though he was handy with tools, clever with computers, and fascinated by the relationship between function and design.
By his late thirties, Birch had worked as a prosthetic technician, creating limbs for various anatomies, and later became a skilled computer technician troubleshooting IT hardware issues for the Florida House of Representatives. His artistic awakening came serendipitously when he noticed a pile of freshly cut wood pieces alongside a road, with one piece having an odd protrusion sticking at right angles from the main section.
To Birch's imagination, that little protrusion was obviously a thumb. He took the wood home and, using a chainsaw and some sanding, produced his first sculpture: a 20-inch water-oak hand with a very prominent thumb. The legislators who saw it loved it, with one member raising the giant hand every time he wished to speak in the House, while other politicians simply enjoyed waving it to say hello.
After that initial success, requests poured in. Birch recalls that carving the big fish at the old Barnacle Bill's restaurant was his first commercial project. However, creating large sculptures takes considerable time, and with the support of his wife Kathleen and as a father of two young boys, Birch faced a crucial decision: quit his stable job to pursue art full-time, despite having no formal art school training.
The answer became clear over the following 30 years as a full-time artist whose reputation now stretches across the state. Birch estimates he has completed nearly 1,000 pieces, both large and small, during his three-decade career. His impressive portfolio includes major sculptures for Trinity Catholic School, Good Samaritan Church, Creative Play School, the LeRoy Collins Library, Hilaman Golf Course, Indian Head (post-tornado restoration), Forest Meadows, Tom Brown Park, and three large pieces for the History and Culture Trail along FAMU Way.
Throughout his career, Birch has had serendipitous encounters with other renowned artists, including apprenticing with the late stone sculptor Ralph Hurst and working alongside Tallahassee's celebrated bronze sculptor Sandy Proctor. However, Birch notes that his work differs significantly from theirs as it represents "subtractive art" – once he saws off a piece of wood, there's no undoing it.
Over the decades, Birch has mastered the intricacies of his medium. He explains that he can only use the heartwood of a tree, as the outer cambium layer – the growth part – will rot away once the tree has been cut. He has also learned that working outside in Florida's intense heat with heavy machinery demands considerable physical stamina, leading him to recently sign up for an art class in plaster relief as a potential future alternative to his massive wood carving projects.
The powerfully-built artist takes pride in the menagerie of creatures he has brought to life for Tallahassee residents. "I've done horses, children, fish, and birds, and I'm just finishing up alligators and turtles climbing out of four swampy logs over in Apalachee Regional Park," Birch explains. With a full year of bookings ahead of him, he hopes to continue bringing "that Norman Rockwell feeling to the people and situations that come to my imagination."
Despite his artistic success, Birch remains humble about his role in the creative process. "It's not just me," he reflects. "The tree is my partner and always has a partner's say in the art it will become." This philosophy perfectly captures how the lightning-struck oak in Ox Bottom Reserve found new life through the collaboration between nature's raw material and human artistic vision, transforming tragedy into a lasting tribute to community resilience and creative inspiration.
