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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chain-saw-wood-pile-1.5735663
Pennfield woodpile sculptor creates biggest stack ever
Brian Golding decided to take a more meta route on his yearly tradition
CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2020 9:00 AM AT
The woodpile sculpture is called Chain Reaction, and Golding thinks it’s probably the biggest and most complex sculpture he has built so far. (Submitted by Brian Golding)
The year 2020 has been anything but normal for New Brunswickers, but a Pennfield man is maintaining an annual fall tradition that always brings a smile to people's faces.
For the past four years Brian Golding has taken his winter wood and created large woodpile sculptures in his front yard.
He's made boats, fish and tigers, but he decided to go meta this year by constructing a massive chainsaw.
"I have to work with the idea that, you know, is compatible with the firewood because it can't be something that needs to be tremendously supported," said Golding.
"So I'd seen a picture of a chainsaw and I just said immediately, 'I know I can do that.'"
In 2018 Golding turned his woodpile into a tiger. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
He named the woodpile sculpture Chain Reaction and Golding thinks it's probably the biggest and most complex project he has ever done.
At 32 feet long and nine feet high, it has a level of intricate detail his other sculptures lacked.
"There's a lot of round pieces that come with our firewood," said Golding.
"So I used just strictly round pieces all the way around to make the chain, and you can tell when you look at it that it's different than the rest."
Distraction in trying times
While no woodpile sculpture is easy to build, Golding always enjoys the challenge and the reactions it provokes. But this year was a little more difficult than usual.
"It was a really tough year for me. I went through a job change, that type of thing because of all the COVID stuff and I just didn't have the time to devote to it like I usually do."
Brian Golding created this woodpile fish sculpture at his home in Pennfield. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
Golding says the happiness he sees in people people driving by to look at the sculpture makes it all worthwhile.
"With the way things are today, if I can give somebody that one second of that little bit of happiness then that's all the satisfaction you could get from it," he said.
As the cold weather advances Chain Reaction will start to diminish. The logs in the sculpture are going to keep Golding warm this winter, but he hopes to keep it intact until at least Remembrance Day.
"I think a lot of people need a little light in their lives right now."
With files from Information Morning Saint John
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/tiger-woodpile-new-brunswick-1.4819170
Tiger woodpile dominates in Pennfield
Brian Golding turns his woodpile into art again this year
· CBC News · Posted: Sep 11, 2018 5:11 PM AT
A wooden tiger will greet anyone who travels past Brian Golding's Pennfield home — at least until a cold spell hits. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
A New Brunswick man has turned his firewood into art for a second year in a row.
Last year, Brian Golding of Pennfield created a giant fish out of his woodpile.
This year, in an effort to up his game, he has created something a little more ferocious: a wooden tiger.
Golding said he does the woodpile art because it gives him a creative outlet, although public pressure from last year also played a part.
"Once you've done something like this, people look for you to do it again, so there's that impetus on me as well," Golding said.
"I had to live up to that expectation."
Golding said he only worked on the project in his spare time across a month and a half.
His medium of choice has its limitations and frustrations, he said.
"I tried to capture the essence of what I was trying to build, which wasn't the easiest thing to do with a fire log really," said Golding.
"There's only so many ways you can shape them … basically it's just firewood and pallets."
Golding said he wanted to add a bit of personality to the piece, an effort exemplified in the oversized googly-eyes the tiger sports.
As a medium for art, fire wood isn't the easiest to work with, says Golding. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
Golding also wanted to add some colour but couldn't use paint, since the wood is for heating his home, and he didn't want toxic fumes filling his house.
But he found a solution.
"I actually used a propane torch to burn the stripes on, which was fairly tedious doing it outdoors with the wind constantly blowing out the flame," said Golding.
Golding said there was a bit of trial and error in getting the tiger to look just right, mostly in the head.
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Usually tigers don't have oversized googly eyes, but Golding's does. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
"This is about the fourth version of the head that I did," he said.
"Everytime I would assemble it, I'd look at it and go 'No, it's not right.'"
Golding said that last year he tried to wait as long as possible before using the wood in his fire, and it wasn't easy to do.
Paint isn't the best thing to put on your firewood, so Golding burned the wood with a blowtorch to create stripes. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
"There was a bit of an empty feeling left afterwards, but at the same time I like the idea that it's only a temporary thing.
"It gives people something to look forward to next year."
With files from Roger Cosman
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/wood-pile-fish-pennfield-nb-1.4119239
Fish Stix: Pennfield man applies fishy touch to wood pile
'I'm going to give people something to look at,' says creator Brian Golding
· CBC News · Posted: May 17, 2017 12:36 PM AT
A Pennfield man has taken the arduous task of ranking wood to a new, artistic level. 0:42
When Brian Golding received his annual supply of wood, he didn't just stack it next to his Pennfield house.
He stacked it in the shape of a large fish, with big eyes and a dorsal fin, on his front lawn.
The fish pile is so big, you can see it from his road in Pennfield, about 60 kilometres west of Saint John and not far from the Bay of Fundy.
He even gave it a name: Fish Stix.
Golding said the idea for his art piece came about when people complimented him on how perfectly straight he stacked his wood last year, he said.
So this year, he told his wife, "I'm going to give people something to look at."
Golding calls his creation Fish Stix. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
The fish stack is so big, you can see it from the road. (Hal Mersereau/Twitter)
With files from Roger Cosman
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