Third artwork described:
| De jaarlijkse ‘Week van het Bos’ was voor Ad weer de uitgelezen gelegenheid om aan een oude lindeboom een nieuw leven te schenken. Hij zou de stam versnijden tot de beeltenis van de verzorgers van het bos, de zeer gewaardeerde bosarbeider. Een uitverkoren boomstronk aan het Zoet Water in Oud-Heverlee kreeg de typische boswachtershoed aangemeten, terwijl de lange regenjas elegant gesneden werd uit de mooie schors van de lindeboom. De figuur kreeg een gelaat en werd Wannes genoemd. Intussen heeft de natuur haar werk gedaan en is de sculptuur spijtig genoeg vergaan. | The annual “Forest Week” was once again the perfect opportunity for Ad to give new life to an old linden tree. He would carve the trunk into an image of the forest’s caretakers, the highly esteemed forestry workera. A selected tree stump at Zoet Water in Oud-Heverlee was fitted with the typical forester’s hat, while the long raincoat was elegantly carved from the beautiful bark of the linden tree. The figure was given a face and named Wannes. Nature has since taken its course, and sadly the sculpture has decayed. |
I bought this just as the pandemic was starting to lift, and the local history society held a carefully socially distanced launch of a couple of its books, including this one. It is a compilation of the public art of our local sculptor, Ad Wouters, whose monogrammed AW you can see on the hat of the Wannes sculpture above. Ad is actually Dutch originally, but has lived in these parts for decades and his work decorates the forest and some of the streets. This book takes us through it all, with more than half of the pages devoted to the woodwork that he specialises in, and the rest describing his work in other media: ceramic, polyester and recycled materials. In each case the reason for the artwork is described and its history and current location, and sometimes also with a poetic reflection from local poet Wim Van den Abeele. It’s a nice production. You can get @Wouters’ Wondere Wereld via the local history society here.
I have previously posted elsewhere about Ad Wouters’ work. Here is a video I shot during lockdown with six of the closest sculptures to our house:
And here’s an Instagram post of two of the wooden sculptures at De Torenvalk park, a bit further away:
I see however that I have missed a lot of his sculptures in the city cemetery in Leuven, and in the Botanic Garden there. Also a lot of the art is just outside his own home, on the terrain that he has christened “Het Land van Bompa”, “Grandad’s Land”. More exploring to do!
