Page 60 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2026

Adam Plitt Turns Fallen Wood Into
Festival-Winning Art
story by Cherie Ward photos courtesy of Adam Plitt
Adam Plitt wakes up every morning ready to carve.
For the Gulf Coast artist, that is more than a job description. It
is a pull.
“I’m addicted to it,” Plitt said. “I’ve got so many pieces that I
have to go to festivals so I can sell some of them and make room
for more. I’d keep them all if I could.”
Plitt, of Gulfport, is a chainsaw artist whose work begins with
rough logs, driftwood, and slabs of discarded wood. From there,
the process moves from power to precision. Most pieces start
with a chainsaw before he works his way down to smaller tools,
grinders, a Dremel, and plenty of sanding.
“A chainsaw is not a pencil,” he said. “You have to think several
steps ahead because one wrong cut can change the whole piece.”
Plitt did not begin his career with a chainsaw in hand. He
studied marketing at Mississippi State University and spent years
working in graphic design, creating logos, labels, and other visual
design work on a computer.
Then, around 2021, he saw a chainsaw carving video online and
the art form grabbed hold quickly.
“I’ve always liked working with my hands and creating things,
but the chainsaw gave me a whole different kind of energy,” Plitt
said. “It’s physical, loud, and aggressive, but somehow I can use it
60 | October 2026 www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living