"I can't sew at all, but I can saw," said Tammy Locke, woodworker and artist, of Murray. She has always enjoyed painting, producing her first artwork at age 3. It was a picture of a bird, painted on a paper towel, that she gave her grandmother.

"I've always loved to make things and decorate them," she said. "I took shop in high school when all the other girls were taking home ec."

She also studied art, which inspired her to decorate the pieces she made. She employed her skills as a hobby, making pieces for friends - shelves, tables, cabinets, toy boxes, mirrors, armoires, lamps, headboards and chairs.

"I made things for friends just to see if I could," she said, adding that it's the challenges that inspire her. "If someone thinks I can't do it, I do it just to show 'em."

Despite the urgings of friends to morph her hobby into a full-time career, she considered it to be a second, part-time job, a sideline. She worked 10 years at Pier One, then moved to Happiness Place and finally to Thurman Furniture Store.

"When Thurman's closed, I said, 'Now is the time.''

She gave in to the urging of friends and began working full time from a small shop at her father's house.

"It's so small, if you turn around, you meet yourself coming back."

That was 10 years ago. Today, Tammy is a successful woodworking artist with clients in Murray, Texas, Ohio, Florida and Nashville, Tenn.

She has a motto: "Love what you do and never work a day in your life. I've spent so many years doing just that."

Tammy Locke can be reached at tambo@apex.net. Phone (270)-293-2675.

Gallery