Every August, Downtown South Bend hosts Art Beat, one of the largest outdoor arts festivals in South Bend. Hundreds of local artists, vendors, and just awesome humans set up booths and tables to show and sell finished products of their creative outlets and pastimes. Paintings, metalsmithing, fabric, leather, ceramic, polymer, digital, bakers, chefs, and even wineries and a pole dancing studio. You name it, and it’s probably out there.
This year I attended with my visibility cloak of LIT Comms and met many of the artists. The displays were magnetic and enticing, some more than others, and a few offered a small space of peace and breathing amidst the hustle and bustle of a vibrant DTSB annual event.
One of these booths had their business card front and center, flanked by several handcarved characters.
I stepped into the temporary wooden art gallery and slowly took in the pieces on display.
I heard who I assumed to be the artist describing to someone the process of not only wood selection but wood treatment and how different substances affect different woods differently, producing different colors. They were discussing the 3D portrait of the dog pictured above and I heard him bring up “Intarsia.”
Intarsia (in regards to wood and not knitting) is a style of art that produces 3D images by gluing carved pieces of different types of wood together. It originated in the 15th century in Italy as a method of decoration, and it was highlighted by intarsia legend Judy Gale Roberts starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
So I introduced myself to the artist, Tim Micinski, and we got to chatting. Soon enough we scheduled a time to sit down together and I got to learn more about this artist one-on-one in a Martin’s Side Door Deli. His large coffee, my iced tea, and my laptop sat between us on the table, and we dove right in.
Tim is a South Bend native who grew up on the west side when it was predominantly Polish. He is the youngest of 5 children (His wife of 40 years, Jan, is youngest of 6! That’s a lot of family!) He began woodworking in 1984 just as a hobby after he got married. A couple years out of high school, he decided to grow a mustache and it just stuck. Funny story, though, his mother in law didn’t really take note until a couple of years later and finally said something to him about growing a mustache! Eventually he made the artistic decision to make it a handlebar mustache and it really began to grow a personality of its own.
“The main reason I started The Mustachioed Woodworker business was to have something to do as a semi-retirement job.” He continues, I have always had a passion for art and I love to create things with my hands. In 1992 I came across an article in a woodworking magazine that showed how to make an Intarsia woodworking piece called ‘The Knot Hole Gang’ of two raccoons looking out of a tree knot hole.”
“My wife had got me a 15” Delta Scroll Saw as a gift and it gave me an opportunity to use the saw and create the piece. The piece turned out well and I wanted to then make more Intarsia pieces. I found the Intarsia woodworking art of Judy Gale Roberts and she designed and sold Intarsia woodworking patterns. I purchased several of her patterns and made several of them as gifts for people. As I got into it more I decided to try and make my own patterns and soon I was making my own.”
In 2016, Crown Audio, Tim’s full-time employer of 30 years, closed its doors and that gave him the perfect opportunity to start his own woodworking business. The logo of The Crooked Ewe was his first commissioned piece. And soon after, a friend commissioned him to make an Intarsia piece of their daughter’s dog, Charlie. Their daughter turned out to be Ashley Flowers, founder and CEO of audiochuck as well as co-host of the #1 rated true crime podcast, Crime Junkie. “After making that piece for her, she helped get my name out as an artist who did pet portraits. Since that piece I have been commissioned for several pet portraits.”
“To sum up my business in one sentence, it would be:”
If you are a person looking for a unique, original, one-of-a-kind art piece made from wood, then The Mustachioed Woodworker is the artist for you.
The Mustachioed Woodworker creates various art pieces from wood using the woodworking techniques of Intarsia, wood carving in the round, marquetry, and Bas-Relief wood carving. I pride myself on the details of a piece to help bring out, hopefully, a “Wow!” factor.”
Tim’s art is currently featured at Mr Miller’s Art Emporium in Douglas, Michigan as well as the Nappanee Artisan Market in Elkhart, Indiana.
Life Is Theatrical Communications 
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