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A R T S & C U L T U R E Faces of Land and Sea
A R T S & C U L T U R E Faces of Land and Sea | Faces of Land and Sea |
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| Written by Bob Ness | |
| Friday, 10 August 2007 | |
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In the seaside town of Belfast, ME, faces appear out of the water as the tide recedes, only to disappear when the tide comes back in. The faces are wooden sculptures, carved into posts that rise out of the water at low tide. This grouping of sculptures is known as The Long Breath, and is the creation of Maine artist Ron Cowan. Ron and his wife Cherie live in this Atlantic coastal town where many of his works adorn trees, buildings, and yards, as well as the waterfront. His talent came to the fore later in his life, after what had been a successful business career slipped away–like an outgoing tide. Born in Connecticut and spending some of his early years in New Brunswick, Canada, Ron attended public schools in Newport, Maine from grades 4 through 12. A stint in the US Army, followed by a college education at the University of New Haven, launched him into the world of business. By the 1970s Ron owned several restaurants in Florida, all but one of which he sold to join with his brother-in-law in the energy management systems business. Blindsided by some of the darker sides of business world, they lost their investment and Ron was forced to sell his remaining restaurant to cover his business debts. Faced with this reversal of fortune, Ron accepted the offer of a friend and moved his family into a farmhouse in Vermont, a place they had grown to love in the past. This was the first of three gifts that would forever change Ron’s life. The second gift took the form of a sculpting frame and modeling clay. One evening at the farm, working into the small hours of the morning, he crafted a life-sized human head. With his mind occupied with other things, he was suddenly amazed by the lifelike features of the sculpture. The artist within had made its debut. Within a year he moved from clay to wood as his favorite medium. Enter the third gift. A cousin gave him some chestnut beams from an old barn. Armed with this raw material, a flea market chainsaw and a grinder, Ron began working on his first face in wood, which, when finished, he named Antonio. Ron calls Antonio his resident movie star. In 1992 the then 11-year-old Antonio was on display in a shop in Belfast, when the set director for Mel Gibson’s movie The Man Without a Face (1993) discovered the sculpture and prominently featured it in the movie. Local citizens have also taken notice of Ron’s artistry. One, Rosemary Gazatua, had him do a portrait of her recently deceased husband, Sergio, on a tree in her front yard. Of the work she said that Ron “captured the essence of his face.” People who view Ron’s work experience various emotions. Perhaps the person most moved was Jamie, a woman who approached Ron at the Belfast Arts in the Park festival in 2003. For years she had been searching for the best way to commemorate the mother and three children lost in a tragic plane crash. “I had noticed her looking at the sculptures and I could tell that she wanted to talk with me,” the sculptor recalled. “A break in the action brought her to me. She had a difficult time holding back her tears.” According to the Bangor Daily News account of the accident published on July 17, 1972, Patricia Peters and her children Patricia, Shawna, and James died. The pilot, James Peters, the husband and father, survived, as did one child. That child was Jamie. The sculpture, completed in 2005 at the site of the crash, can be seen by those who enter the airport where it stands on the right side of the access road. Ron takes careful steps to preserve his creations. “I use different color stains on the face to highlight the eyes and the lips as well as the opening of the nostrils. When it has dried, I apply two or three coats of Min Wax floor wax to protect the face while it is resealing. From there the graying process begins. After a year or two, depending on the type of wood, the face will darken and in most cases will amplify the visual personality of the piece. On the top I put copper to keep the moisture from seeping down behind the face and pushing the wax off as well as reducing the speed of decomposing.” On average it takes Ron five sessions and 10 hours to complete a face, which is preceded by a study of all photographs or other information available on the subject. He says he goes “through many faces on the way to a finished product.” Ron always has two completed sculptures–he calls them greeters–at his work sites. The greeters show visitors the skill of the work that is to come, and in moments of difficulty, help Ron restore his inspiration. Ron has created a legacy with his talent. It will live on in the wood he has worked and through his sons, Ryan and Ben, who have also taken up the saw and the grinder and whose work sometimes appears with their father’s. |
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