Chainsaw artist carves angel into 100-year-old oak tree trunk at Westchester funeral home

Chainsaw artist Jon Vincent Antonuk was hired to carve out an angel to help preserve what remains of a 100-year-old oak tree in the rear parking lot of the Flower Funeral Home in Yonkers.

Antonuk, who is from Barneveld, New York, is the owner of From the Forest Inc. and has been a professional chainsaw artist since 2008.

The family-owned funeral home has been in the city since 1921 and has been on Yonkers Avenue since 1965. Anthony J. Flower, the owner and president, and his son Mark, the manager, thought it might be a nice change so they don't lose the tree altogether.

Why choose an angel?

"An angel in a way could be materialistic. It could be spiritual. It could be heavenly,” Flower said.

Creating the sculpture from a tree is a process. “I'll block it out with the big saws, take the bigger chunks off and it'll start to take shape with the blocking process. Once I see the Angel in there, I'll start detailing," Antonuk said. "I'll get the hands and the feathers on the wings. I'll save the face for last with the chisels and the Dremels and stuff, but I'll do the majority of the work with the chainsaw.”