Clementson lends his gift to Warner Garage Door

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

A welcome sign made by a local chainsaw artist became a fixture at Warner Garage Door, Inc. in recent weeks after Bill Warner, owner and operator, received it as a Christmas gift from its creator.

Matt Clementson, Park Rapids, is that creator and also happens to work at Warner Garage Door. He works as a salesman in New York Mills during the day and continues his passion of chainsaw carving during his free time at his shop in Park Rapids, where he resides.

The passion all started in 2008 when Clementson sold his boxing club in Los Angeles. He retreated to the mountains in Malibu and made friends with the locals there.

“There was a chainsaw artist there that was making a bear and I just watched him,” said Clementson. “I bought five grand worth of artwork. So, I bought every animal you can dream of and I put them in my house and I just fell in love with what he did—bears and eagles and all this other stuff.”

Clementson decided that he wanted to learn how to create the same kind of artwork, so he spent some time with the artist and learned how to carve chunks of wood into beautiful pieces of art.

“We just turn on some music and just start carving,” he said. “It’s a fun thing and the reaction you get from people when an animal that you make or a letter sign, it’s a statement. When you put that out in front of your house, it’s telling everybody that, ‘hey, I can afford to carve firewood. You can see it’s handmade, we make it look kind of chiseled.

“It relaxes me, I don’t have to think,” he continued. “There’s no numbers to deal with, no people to deal with, you’re outside—that’s kind of cool. The smell of gasoline and the chainsaw, it’s a good combination.”

Though the sculpture carving side of the business keeps everything running and pays for the materials and tools it takes to make them, chainsaw art is more than just money for Clementson. He enjoys the relaxing atmosphere of the shop and the joy that the carvings bring.

“Every artist I’ve ever worked with in this business, that’s what they do, they all have fun with it,” he said. “They’re not out to get rich, they’re just out to make something that someone just looks at and goes ‘wow.’”

Though Clementson has been carving since 2008, he has worked as a garage door salesmen for twice as long. He recently moved back to the area two years ago when he realized he wanted to be back home in Park Rapids where he grew up.

“As an artist, you always have a day job, so I’ve been selling garage doors for 30 years,” he said. “I repped a company in Los Angeles for almost 30 years and then I decided to move back here because I grew up in Park Rapids, so I wanted to raise my two little girls there, where I was raised. I have no family left there, but I just loved my town.”

Leaving the Los Angeles area, Clementson first needed to sell off his business and inventory of sculptures before he could fully relocate. With a standing job offer from Bill Warner, Clementson sold off his carvings and within a year, made his way with his two daughters, three dogs, and three cats to Park Rapids.

“Bill has been so good to me the past two years,” said Clementson. “I rep him and his territory, it’s like an hour around NY Mills. That kind of finances the sculpture business too, I relaunched the sculpture business in Park Rapids. I got to give him a lot of credit for giving me a good job where I can have a little freedom and take off early and do orders on the weekends and nights.

“I don’t make a living at it,” he continued. “Bill has been so good to me—he pays well, he treats everybody well—he’s got a staff that’s been there for years, he doesn’t question if you want to take off early to go make some money doing that, he doesn’t care. He’s a good guy, he knows how to run a business and he makes it really smooth for everybody.”

Clementson was also an actor for a few years before leaving Hollywood behind. He worked on the set of the television series “Chainsaw Gang” as a main cast member, carving away at his artwork along with other chainsaw artists. The show, starring Alison Eastwood and financed by her father, Clint Eastwood, made a 10 episode run for its first season.

“There’s 10 episodes on national television, but then they cancelled our show and we never got a second season,” said Clementson. “I waited for years thinking I was going to get a second season and become rich, because you don’t make much on the first season, but that second season, you get a lot more money if you get a contact and Clint Eastwood was financing it. His daughter was in our cast, so I thought, ‘oh, we have job security with his daughter in it. Her name and his name will keep it going,’ but I was wrong. That fell apart.”

Clementson said that he finally became disillusioned with Los Angeles and Hollywood and decided it was time to escape the chaos of the area. He lived in Big Bear in the mountains for four years before he finally made his next destination to Park Rapids area. Currently, he’s exceedingly happy working as a garage door salesman, a chainsaw artist, and a dad to two daughters.

Clementson’s latest work, the Warner letter sign art is featured inside the business for the time being and was also worked on by his fellow artist, Kurt Schroeder, who is learning the trade. The sign was a gift from Clementson to Bill Warner for his working relationship as well as friendship.

“It was a gift for Christmas,” said Clementson. 

It took 20 years to learn and probably six hours to carve. 

“I can work here until I’m 80. He said he’ll get me a van and a wheelchair so I can keep doing my job,” he laughed. “That’s our sense of humor.”