Mankato man makes detailed wood-burned art
By Scott Thoma
When Ricky Weinzettel of Mankato was only four years old in 1996, he and his family were at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport awaiting the arrival of a relative coming in from Los Angeles. On a television screen in the waiting area was a trailer for the movie “Twister,” starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt.
Ricky became so fascinated with the movie that he eventually made the natural disaster a big part of his life.
“I’ve watched it about 40 times,” he said of the film.
Born in St. Paul, Ricky was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (which is part of the autism spectrum disorder) in 2002. Because his mother developed bipolar disorder when he was an infant, Ricky was raised by his grandma, Kathy Ek, a former art teacher who still works with autistic children at age 86 (her husband passed away in 1991). Ricky was home-schooled by his grandma for his entire K-12 education.
When Ricky was around four years old, his grandmother bought him a woodburning set. The first thing he made was a head of a horse.
Little did Kathy realize that she had unlocked a newfound talent in her grandson. Soon, he combined his woodburning prowess with his fascination for tornadoes.
“He has a real talent for all art,” Kathy said. “He’s a very good artist and sculptor. When he was little, Ricky looked out the window and saw a farmer harvesting his crops. He sat down and made a phenomenal drawing of a combine. He enjoys woodburning the most, though, and he is so good at it.”
To date, Ricky has made 650-700 woodburning replicas of tornadoes. The woodburnings include every tornado that has been photographed in the world.
“I’m caught up to February of 2023,” he said. “I’ve still got a couple hundred to go.”
Weinzettel can reel off the dates of every one of the tornadoes, as well as when he made a woodburning of them. He learned a lot about tornadoes by reading books and looking up information on the internet.
“(People with autism) can have a higher memory than others,” he said.
Weinzettel’s first woodburning of a tornado was in June of 2013, the Garnett, KS tornado that struck on April 26, 1884.
“It was the first tornado ever photographed,” said Weinzettel, who is also a certified storm chaser.
In all, Ricky estimates that he has made over 2,200 woodburnings that include animals, scenery, historical events, flowers, family portraits and much more. He has sold some of his work whenever a friend or relative requests a certain scene to be woodburned, but keeps most of the tornado etchings for his collection.
Some of the woodburnings he has completed are detailed and take up to nine hours to complete. He has made an intricate woodburning of an elephant, a touching 9/11 tribute, and The Last Supper, to name a few.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Kathy. “Sometimes, there have been challenging times with him, but mostly it’s all been good. He keeps me young.”
His etchings are generally done on rustic oval-shaped slices of wood or on planks of basswood that he purchases at Hobby Lobby or online.
He first sketches a faint drawing on the wood. Once the wood burner is heated to the right temperature, he’s off and running, carefully and methodically following the lines on the drawing as the lines transform into dark trails of char. Eventually, the char lines transform into an impressive piece of art.
“He displayed his art at a gallery in Mankato and a lot of people came out to see his work,” Kathy said.
Ricky also took a woodburning that he made of the 1968 F5 tornado that struck Tracy, Minn., to the Lyon County Fair in Marshall and was declared Grand Champion.
“I’m trying to present myself that autistic people can achieve dreams, too,” he said. “I realized that I had a talent and I didn’t want to waste it. Besides, I was hoping to sell enough so I could save my money and buy a Porsche one day.”
Ricky admits that sometimes he feels overwhelmed in certain situations, such as when he is at work on a busy Saturday as a cook and dishwasher at Boulder Tap House in Mankato, where he has been employed since 2016.
“I wanted to save my money and buy my own house,” he said. “I was able to buy a mobile home, which was the most affordable, and I almost have it all paid for.”
About that Porsche he dreamed about owning? On May 3, 2024, Ricky proved to himself and others that people with autism can indeed achieve dreams, as he now drives around in his 2002 cherry red convertible Porsche.
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