Belfast man turns wood into art Sculptor Ron Cowan among 90 creators at Bangor festival

BANGOR – From ordinary wood Ron Cowan sees extraordinary things. From dead or dying trees, he sees life.

Drawing upon what he’s seen in life, the Belfast sculptor brings a new face to old trees, carving out expressions from trees that have been cut down or old wharf pilings that have outworn their usefulness.

On Saturday, Cowan brought his art form to the WLBZ Channel 2 Sidewalk Art Festival, joining about 90 other artists displaying their creativity along Pickering Square and surrounding streets. Cowan’s sculptures stood out, distinctive among the many stalls of paintings and photographs – from landscapes of forceful waves crashing against a rocky coast and the serenity and solitude of the woods to portraits.

The 52 statues he brought along for display, and to sell, Cowan likes to call garden muses. Collectively, they are called a gathering, purposefully adding to the sense of humanity he draws from the wood.

Walking among the statues, many towering in height, it’s easy to become lost in the crowd. Some of the faces are long, drawn out, others more rounded. Some are stern, others more playful or content.

People are attracted to the faces for the same reason Cowan is creating them: They provide a sense of familiarity, yet something new.

One woman bought a statue, telling Cowan that the gaping hole in the back of the apple tree wood and the presence of a face in the front was something she had seen in a dream 15 years earlier.

Cowan said each face comes to him as he looks at a piece of wood, assessing it, and through the carving process. The features of the many faces he’s seen in his life coalesce into one; a composite of many people, the eyes from one person, the nose from another.

“They just come back out in a stream of combinations,” he said Saturday.

The wood used in his creations comes from logs left by neighbors and friends from trees that have died or been cut down as well as from old barns, while the oak comes from 70 30-foot pilings from Belfast Harbor that were no longer wanted after years of worm infestation had left them with sections covered in small holes.

One of his own pear trees, pummeled by the winter weather, became the canvas for some of his latest creations. Cowan also occasionally carves faces into live trees. He says the carving doesn’t kill the tree.

There were many methods of creativity on display at the art festival.

Artisan Sandra Schock-Houtman finds that art can be both beautiful to look at and functional. For 32 years she has been plying her craft as a potter; the last 10, from her home in Orono.

From her studio, Elm Street Pottery, Shock-Houtman turns the clay, transforming it from bland blocks to colorful plates and bowls with delicately swirling designs and featherlike waves. It’s a medium that is giving and responsive, allowing her to try new approaches and designs when the mood and inspiration suit her.

“It’s almost like having a new palette every time I have something to work on,” she said from her kiosk on the bridge that crosses the Kenduskeag Stream by a parking garage. She said that once she forms the plate or bowl or mug, she looks at it to see what kind of patterns she can create, much like a painter with a blank canvas.

“Pottery is creative expression in the same way that two-dimensional art is. It’s just a different art form,” she said.