The Trucker Newspaper - September 15, 2018

20
AT
THE TRUCK STOP
PRESENTED BY CAT SCALE, VISIT WEIGHMYTRUCK.COM
Woodworker Brian Matthews: Former seaman
keeps his Mack full of artistic endeavors
In his off-duty hours, E.W. Wylie driver Brian Matthews pulls out the woodworking tools he carries in his Mack to complete his various projects, each one planned to be better than the last.
SPECIAL TO THE TRUCKER
Some woodworkers have spacious garage or basement
workshops in which to carve their artistic creations.
Brian Matthews has the cab of his Mack truck.
When it’s time for a rest period or he’s on a layover, Matthews
pulls out his woodworking tools and whatever project
he’s working on at the moment.
“My creativity occupies my down time,” he says.
What occupies his time could be a translation of one of his
drawings into an engraving carved on a board, or it could be
a model of a boat or truck.
Pretty soon, though, the cab “looks like a wood shop when
I’m done,” he laughs. “It gets a little messy.”
Matthews, a driver for E.W. Wylie Corp. for 4 ½ years, has
been drawing since his youth. “Drawing is something I did
when I was bored,” he says. “I never took classes. Growing
up in a tough neighborhood in New Orleans, it kept me out
of trouble.”
He made the jump to making three-dimensional versions
of his drawings in his early years working on Gulf Coast tugs
and tow boats, primarily as an able seaman, navigator and
deck hand. An engineer on a boat he was working on saw
one of his drawings and asked Matthews if he could make a
model of it.
So he did. Then a captain of a vessel Matthews was crewing
on liked the model so much he paid $8,000 for it.
This seaman-turned-trucker later made the switch to onshore
freight transportation because “I always wanted my
own truck,” he says, but ships, not surprisingly, continue to
figure in a lot of his projects.
He’s made a 6-foot-long replica of the paddle-wheeler
Natchez. That one, he says, he stowed between the seats
of his truck when he wasn’t working on it. He also has in
his portfolio a large model of a barge tug decked out in the
black-and-gold colors of the New Orleans Saints (his mother,
a Saints fan, has that one). And yes, he’s done trucks, including
a 6-foot model of a Peterbilt, complete with Caterpillar
engine and trailer.
Some models, such as boats, take as long as six months to
complete, depending on the complexity of the project and
how much time Matthews has to devote to them.
Some of his woodworking creations are more two-dimensional,
like a panel with a Parisian scene or another depicting
a family of tigers. His charcoal sketches can start with something
as basic as an image called up on his phone.
You might say Matthews is totally into his art. He’s currently
working on a movie set project, driving until 6:30 or
so at night, then working on his movie set carvings until 11.
He’s proud that his artistic and modeling endeavors are being
passed on to the next generation: His son, now a teenager,
has taken up the hobby and shows promise.
Matthews is well known in the Wylie company family for
his abilities.
“He amazes all of us with his talents of building remotecontrol
steam boats, tugboats and ships from scratch, remotecontrol
semi-trucks and his amazing drawings he can do freehand,”
says a former co-worker. “People who have had the
chance to see his talents are amazed with the very fine detail
he puts into each and every project. He has a passion for his
craft and is extremely talented.”
Even out on the road, where Matthews’ recent hauls have
taken him up the Eastern Seaboard and as far north as Minnesota,
word has spread of his abilities. He remembers one trip
on which another driver spotted one of his projects. By the
time he got to Wylie’s North Dakota terminal, people were
asking to see what he was working on.
But it’s not the recognition or sales that keep him working
at his craft. Constant improvement, he says, is the goal.
“It’s a challenge to me to see how my work will come out,
to see how well I can turn a drawing on paper into a wood
model. If one model I make is nice, the next one will be even
nicer.” 8