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.
'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.
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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
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