Doug Dunbar

My car rolls up the driveway, I switch off the engine and am embraced by the silence of the surrounding cedar trees, the ground wet from recent snow, an overcast sky somehow familiar and comforting in this forested acreage in the middle of the Cowichan Valley.

I am greeted by sculptor Doug Dunbar and quickly follow him inside to the warmth and cup of tea he has prepared for my coming. He shows me some stone carvings, invites me to pick up the pieces though they seem to invite one to do just that all on their own.

Abstract, finely worked and finished, they speak to me of both their distant origins (the stone comes from as far away as Brazil) and the skill and craftsmanship that has been lavished on them. Most of his work is "out there" in galleries, on offer for sale.

I want to know when he first knew he had a talent for carving, where did he study, what is the source of his inspiration? "I've always worked with my hands." He tells me this in a variety of ways and I understand that for him it is the answer to all my questions.

Doug carved his first piece 35 years ago. Trained as an industrial arts teacher, he never taught. When he tells me he has worked in construction, metalwork, cabinetry, I begin to understand that his is an innate artistry. He scarcely draws a distinction between one kind of work and another.

"There is a connectedness in nature: certain themes that recur over and over again. Some of the inspiration for natural forms comes from that."

Yet nearly all his work is abstract. "Abstract," he says, "you don’t know where you're going, where you'll end up. Sometimes you reach a point where you have to change direction. Even though it’s abstract, all the elements of nature keep finding their way back in."

Here is a man doing what he loves to do.

As I drive away, I cannot help thinking about his comment, "I've always worked with my hands." Somehow that explains everything.