The roar of a chainsaw echoed through Denver’s Montclair neighborhood in early June as an artist worked on the carving of a 15-foot elm tree trunk. It’s a sound she’s grown used to—Faye Braaten, also known as “Chainsaw Mama,” has been making tree sculptures for 26 years.

“It’s a really fun job, and it keeps you in shape,” she said while taking a break on her final day of carving.

She had the look of an artist, with chaps covered in sawdust and oil, safety goggles, and ear protection. Her tools were carefully lined up in a row: chainsaws of varied sizes, assorted power levels, and different tips for intricate details.

Braaten’s canvasses come in varying sizes, too. Different trees carve easier, she said, and all have distinct characteristics.

“I’d rather have it green, and this one is really green,” she said, gesturing to her creation. “It cuts so much easier, and you get nice crisp lines.”

She added, “A small aspen won’t last as long and is likely to decompose, but this tree is going to be here for a very long time.”

The project was commissioned by Denver Parks and Recreation after the decision to remove the tree for “declining health and safety reasons.” The trunk of the failing tree, which neighbors called beloved, was saved for the sculpture.

The design was based around the theme of bears because, Braaten said, “everybody loves bears.” From there, her work began, and as with other projects, she rolled with changes along the way. Inside the elm, she discovered a large carpenter ant colony that needed to be removed. Her design had to work around the wood weakened by the ants’ tunnels, which are still evident in the finished piece.

It was nothing like the time she was carving a big Douglas fir on the side of a hill, she said. “This is going to be gorgeous,” she recalled thinking, only to find out the middle was full of metal from a log cabin at the location 100 years ago.

Braaten has seen some interesting things in her more than two decades of work, a journey that began in Billings, Mont., where she was part of a street ministry that needed extra income. Her husband’s friend was trying to convince him to carve, but she was instead encouraged to try it. “People are going to pay me to do this?” she thought.

That was in June of 1999, and by fall she was doing it full time. Within a year, she competed and won second place in a carving contest.

That started a career that led her to Colorado and projects across the state. Her Denver jobs often come through word of mouth.

A sculpture in Bible Park led to a bench along the Highline Canal, which led to 13 pieces outside the south entrance of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Along the way, she was led to the location in Montclair and the old elm tree in the middle of the playground at 12th Avenue and Oneida Street.

She said she was grateful to the passersby who stopped to watch during the week of work or offered kind praise while she was on break. On this final day, a neighbor walking his dog gave her a thumbs up. “It’s really beautiful,” he told her.

“I get paid to do this,” Braaten marveled following the encounter, adding that she gets to listen to compliments.

“It’s funny how after 26 years, I don’t even think about picking up a saw,” she laughed. “But people just get excited when they see a woman with a chainsaw.”