Carl Hanson has spent most of his nearly 87 years with a brush in his hand.  He's an artist and his paintings can be seen in Art's Cafe in Moose Lake and Lou's Diner in Barnum.  Carl worked on the ore boats and worked on the great lakes back in the 1940s.  And that's where he earned his spending money- with his art.  He said he painted portraits of nearly everyone on the boat.  Carl said once they spent five days in dry dock in Toledo.  He and a shipmate took in an art museum where they had  works of the old masters on display.  He said you could have spent a week there and not seen everything.  In 1959, Carl signed up for a three-year correspondence course.  He had ten assignments to complete.  He says he still has several of the paintings he submitted for critique: one of the Split Rock Lighthouse and another of himself dressed in a red jacket, pants and hunting hat posed next to a ten-point buck he'd shot while he was hunting.  Carl was one of the local sign painters for many years and his artistry extended to the sides of pickup trucks and vans.  Carl is also a gunsmith and has carved intricate designs on gun stocks.  He also owns a few pistols he crafted from spare parts.  Carl has several painting projects on which he continues to work.

Lois Johnson-Arrowhead Leader Editor