Featured Story
Tim Racer
Tim Racer, an artist and pit bull advocate, expresses his love for dogs in two ways.
He's a cofounder of BAD RAP, a California based pit bull education and rescue organization, and he also carves carousel style portraits of dogs in the old world tradition using basswood and wooden dowels - no nails are found in Tim's creations!
His commissions come from all over the country and abroad - his next project being an American Bulldog from Bermuda. Traveling to photograph his subjects and meeting their owners is part of the job Tim enjoys as much as putting gouges to wood. "Meeting the dog is not absolutely necessary" says Tim, "but I prefer to whenever I can, because knowing a dog's personality helps to bring out their character in the carving."
A gifted animal handler, Tim once focused on rehabilitating birds of prey for a NorCA wildlife center. He now leads BAD RAP's weekly training classes, which earned the American Humane Association's 2006 Award for Best Practices in Behavior and Training. In 2007, he helped assess the dogs from Michael Vick's dog-fighting operation and worked with the federal government to secure their placement with qualified organizations. He has since been called on to assess dogs from similar circumstances throughout the country, and served the federal government again by doing the same for dogs housed by the Animal Welfare League of Iowa in what is being called "the largest dog fighting operation in US history." Tim travels widely to present BAD RAP's lessons learned in housing, training and placing pit bulls. And back home, he shares the responsibility of training BAD RAP's foster dogs and educating their adopters.
One wonders when Tim finds time to work on his commissions. He explains - "I've always been a night owl, so usually get to my sculpting when the good daylight is gone, but there is something magical about late night when the phone stops ringing and my computer cools down. I turn on my music and let the wood chips fly." He's married to Donna Reynolds - cofounder and CEO of BAD RAP - and is happily owned by four personal dogs, who earn their trade by modeling for him whenever necessary.
