O.L. Samuels’ grandmother had told him that when he got sad he should carve, for he was a forlorn youngster. She suggested that he use a thread spool and a knife to fashion little animals and thereby relieve anxiety. Instead, he learned to create beasts from trunks of trees and their heavy roots. Soon thereafter he built “skeletons” and creatures’ extremities from knots of wood. By mixing sawdust, paint and glue, he concocted a substance to use as “skin” for his figures whose basic forms he constructs with two-by-fours. His sculptures defined themselves: “The wood talks to you, like when you're cooking.” He blows his breath into his cupped hands and rubs them over the sculptures, infusing his life into his creations. “The state you’re in always comes through in the piece itself,” he said.