Tasmanian craftsman Allan Lane dies aged 97

Allan Lane died earlier this month, aged 97, after a short stint in hospital.

Several years before his death, Mr Lane entrusted his entire collection of about 130 carved wooden spoons to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

The collection ranges from matchstick-sized to five-feet tall. Some spoons are made from firewood, others from King Billy Pine, another features a daffodil in memory of Mr Lane's late wife Alma, who died of cancer.

Ashley Bird, QVMAG's senior curator of visual art and design, said Mr Lane had begun the collection in the 1980s, and was still carving in 2018.

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"Age was of no real consequence ... he was in his 90s but he was as sharp as anything talking about memories of carving these spoons and what they all meant to him," Mr Bird said.

"They all had a story. He'd written his own little book that documented all the spoons so when we collected them we had a record of when he'd made them, what they were made of, why he carved them a certain way - everything."

Mr Lane is survived by three children - David, Mark and Roseanne - as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren.

"He was a passionate character, he had a real zeal and a real passion for what he made," Mr Bird said.

"He had a sense of humour and he had an amazing amount of creativity.

"There's a lot of people that do spoon carving but I've never seen anyone do spoon carving quite like Allan."

RELATED: Art of the spoon - not just a utensil

Mr Lane's life was celebrated at a funeral in Deloraine on Friday.

An exhibit displaying part of his spoon collection will remain on show at QVMAG Royal Park until later this year.

More of Mr Lane's works will be displayed in a carving exhibition opening in November.

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