Miles Burkholder Carpenter had a diverse wood carving practice, which incorporated both time-honored techniques and a keen comic eye for the condition of modernity. Born in 1889 in Brownstown, Pennsylvania, a deeply traditional Pennsylvania Dutch community, the artist moved with his family to Waverly, Virginia, in 1901, where he remained for the remainder of his life. After working at his father's sawmill through his youth, Carpenter struck out on his own at age twenty-three, first with his own lumber business (and forays into summer theater), and, beginning in 1955, as the proprietor of a roadside ice, beverage, and produce market.

Although he began making small carvings in the 1940s, Carpenter dedicated himself more seriously to hi...