Sculpture by Savage

Philip Savage lives in Quispamsis, a swiftly developing town on the Kennebecasis River; a river that he frequently escapes to year round for inspiration and contemplation.

His business name ‘Savage Gardens’, was chosen for it’s gardening side, (and the family name) but also because it alludes to what he hopes to show in his art and garden designs - that life is both mysterious and fearful but also beautiful and fulfilling.

Savage says he chose to become involved in woodcarving as a child when his mother pushed him through shyness to join a local club called the KV Carvers. “Ever since, I've found wood irresistible and it just progressed naturally,” he said.

He started doing sculpted pieces as a personal passion and stress release activity and then sold a few. He says the sales were the spark that fired his “giddy realization” that one could actually make a living as an artist/designer and that this is what he must do to be happy. “My dream for the future is to work and be paid well as a landscape artist; sculpting the earth, the plant material, the hardscape, the wood elements in a yard or estate into organic and timeless compositions. In the winters I intend to continuing exploring the seemingly endless and unique possibilities of wood as a sculptural medium.”

Savage usually starts with sketches, curves, and abstract images on paper and constantly changes or works the form until it is visually appealing or “shouts, whispers, snarls etc. something meaningful”. Sometimes the wood has a natural flow to it that just needs to be enhanced a little. One example is a cedar stump he chopped out of the ground with four large roots leaping out on all sides. “It looks like some ancient hound bounding off to hunt,” he said.

His staple woods are ash for its beautiful grain patterns, yellow birch for its warm colours and rock maple for its invincible, “mortal-humbling toughness”.

He scavenges anything he can find in the area, including dead trees that he will sometimes offer to remove for free in exchange for the wood. “I love the pursuit of the wood, the haggling, the physical struggle to get it up and into the truck. I think of it as big game hunting with out the death,” he said.

Appreciation of his sculptures varies. He’s noticed a lot of people are drawn to his series of seedpod forms. “They like the tactile feel of the gently undulating forms that these pods possess,” he said.

Several big nutshells of rock maple are boisterous promoters for the pod series. “They are my favorite pieces so far, demonstrating some ideals that I pursue like simplicity, toughness and mystery with their dark, gaping mouths,” he said.

The surrounding plant material is something he often considers when envisioning a sculpture in the landscape. “For instance, a meditative figure in weathered grey cedar can be placed in a mass of cool blue Hosta or Blue oat grass for a feeling of calm while a lunging, aggressive form in glowing yellow birch might be complimented by a stand of fiery Japanese Blood grass,” he said.

To contact Philip Savage, email me at callen@thevanguard.ca or call 902.749.2531.