Suffolk sculptor creates giant grizzly bear out of wood
Chainsaw sculptor Ben Loughrill has created a 10ft Bear. - Credit: Nick Butcher
If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise.
This 10ft giant grizzly bear has been brought to life by a sculptor.
Ben Loughrill spent just three days turning an oak tree trunk into the vast creature, using only his imagination and a chainsaw.
In his 15 years of fashioning figures from old stumps or fallen trunks, it is one of the largest commissions he has taken on.
Sculpted at his home in St Margaret South Elmham, near Bungay, Mr Loughrill's latest creation is soon to take up residence in the garden of a home near Woodbridge.
You may also want to watch:
'It was quite a challenge,' said Mr Loughrill, 38, whose previous work includes three sculptures at the Latitude festival site, Henham Park, of Boudica, King Ona and the sixth Earl of Stradbroke – the so-called 'Aussie Earl'.
Mr Loughrill said wood can be difficult to work with, and halfway through his latest carving he found a piece of barbed wire running through the centre which he had to cut out.
Most Read
- 1 Pretty thatched cafe business on Broads for sale for £75,000
- 2 Escape to the Country names 'north Norfolk's seaside capital'
- 3 The areas where Covid rates have fallen the fastest since lockdown began
- 4 'Small number' of staff at town's Tesco test positive for Covid-19
- 5 'We're all shocked' - Butchers shop attacked by vandals
- 6 Shock as cannabis factory found in quiet Broads' village
- 7 Anger as woodland used as 'playground and dustbin'
- 8 Giant Victorian underground reservoir marks supplying city for 150 years
- 9 Report into woman's murder by jealous ex: 'Employers must do more'
- 10 50 home development approved despite flooding fears
The bear is due to be collected on a crane lorry today. And Mr Loughrill has become rather attached to his creation. 'It is even better than I hoped,' he said. 'I was half hoping the man wouldn't come to collect it so I could keep it.'
The bear is being sold for an undisclosed fee.
To find out more about his work visit www.benloughrill.com
Comment – Page 28
Do you have a story about an unusual artistic creation? Email newsdesk@archant.co.uk