From the tree to the workshop

    AVOCA -- Robert Dewaele grew up on a crop and livestock farm near Crescent, Iowa, where he always worked with his hands. It only felt natural, the Avoca resident said, to become an artist.
    Dewaele has worked as a wood sculptor for 39 years, carving the material from its original form into an intricate, curved yet smooth piece of artwork. He also works as a Crops Insurance Claims Adjuster. Some of his sculptures are accented with hints of bronze, which the artist said he is often told at art shows that such work is a rarity.  
    “They’re both natural, warm colors and the materials go together well,” Dewaele said. “If you take like aluminum, that wouldn’t look near as good with wood as bronze does, because it has this nice yellowish brownish color that blends with all the different kinds of wood.”
    After 13 years of working at the Hot Shop Art Center in Omaha, the artist decided to work from home, where he now practices his art in his studio. It’s there where Dewaele brings the wood from the tree groves of Southwest Iowa and ignites his artistic process.
    After the wood dries out, Dewaele studies the branch/log and ponders what the material could become, like a protonemal figure or a short figure. He then draws an outline of the soon-to-be sculpture on the wood, chisels about half of the wood, and sets to working with the power tools.
    Dewaele commences his process’ final steps by sanding the wood piece with an electric sander, sanding the wood by hand, coating it with penetrating oil, and finally, pastes the wood to prevent it from cracking while also endowing the sculpture with a glossy shine.
    “Some wood carvers like leaving tool marks and the wood rough,” he said. “But I’ve just always preferred taking the wood down to a smooth and shiny finish.”
    The genesis of Dewaele’s art education is Iowa Western Community College, where he took farm operations and management classes during the day and art classes, specifically sculpting classes, at night in 1975. Following IWCC, he enrolled at Bellevue University and took 100 hours’ worth of sculpture class instruction, and even worked as a Professor’s Assistant for a few quarters, he said. It was there where the sculptor began amalgamating wood and bronze.
    But natural materials are not the only source of Dewaele’s inspiration. The sculptor said he enjoys drawing from an idea or concept and thinking how he can formulate a visual expression.
    “I was listening to Tom Petty one day on the radio and they played the song, “Learning To Fly,” and I thought, ‘I’ll bet there’s a sculpture in there,’” Dewaele said.
    Dewaele created a carving with three nests that featured birds who were reluctant to leave their nest — they were learning to fly, he said.
    Christian themes are also part of Dewaele’s artistic repertoire, he said. Once, he composed a Full Armor of God series, which consisted of six sculptures accented with bronze. He also produces wooden crosses.
    Despite the COVID-19 pandemic setting off a tripwire of economic hardship for businesses and artists across the United States, Dewaele said that 2020 proved to be a better year for sales compared to 2019.
    “I can’t explain it,” he said with a laugh. “What I suspect though, is that people are spending more time at home, and I wonder if we’ll see an uptick in decorating. I think it’s a possibility, and it would explain why things went as well as they did last year.”
    Dewaele added that there is a great satisfaction of completing a sculpture and knowing that he created the artwork.
    “I’ve really enjoyed becoming an artist,” he said. “I think it displays a lot about my personality, and I just love creating things and seeing them through to completion.”