{"id":5166,"date":"2019-09-19T12:10:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T16:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/robin-de-leeuw-when-beauty-springs-from-deformity\/"},"modified":"2019-09-19T12:10:23","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T16:10:23","slug":"robin-de-leeuw-when-beauty-springs-from-deformity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/blogue\/robin-de-leeuw-when-beauty-springs-from-deformity\/","title":{"rendered":"Robin De Leeuw: When beauty springs from deformity"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is one of a series of articles on the artists taking part in the various<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Christmas markets in Brome-Missisquoi<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Life is full of twists and turns. Robin De Leeuw was once a cabinet maker and used only high-grade, flawless wood, with a uniform, consistent grain. Now that he is a wood turner, he likes pieces that he once would have rejected in the blink of an eye, to turn and shape them into unique works of art.
\nIn his yard, where he greets me, Robin De Leeuw shows me a huge piece of wood that is biding its time. The trunk segment is deformed because of a tumour \u2013 yes, it happens in the plant world, too \u2013 which is called a burl<\/em>. It\u2019s misshapen, somewhat grotesque. \u00a0But burls, knots, wood that has been spalted or altered by mushrooms\u2026.all these now enter into Robin\u2019s creative realm. His creativity turns these imperfections into beautiful bowls, salad bowls, vases, items that are often very useful and always artistic.<\/p>\n

One can safely say the aesthetics register of the Sutton wood turner is becoming quite extensive. He sometimes uses colours to \u00a0dye pure-shaped pieces. Elsewhere, asymmetry prevails; contours and finishes are irregular, and there are even some holes in the bark and inner wood. There is something in these works that combines the contemporary with the archaic.
\n <\/p>\n

Best from the worst<\/h3>\n

 
\nRobin De Leeuw uses various types of wood for his creations, including maple and cherry. He\u2019s partial to the unconventional; something that would be flawed in cabinet making lends a distinctive character here. In his workshop under his house, a sap maple tree trunk is about to undergo a makeover. Robin says the wood should have been white but a disease caused it to turn brown. \u00a0It\u2019s a fine sample, and so, too, is the Gigu\u00e8re maple.\u00a0 \u201cThe wood is bad,\u201d explains Robin. \u201cIt\u2019s soft, very linear and it doesn\u2019t have any distinctive features, but the fact it is diseased might make it a very interesting piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robin has people in the area that scout around; they know what he likes and they provide him with the material. \u00a0Then it\u2019s the inspiration stage. How to follow the grain direction of the wood, what does he suggest? How to have as little wood wastage as possible? A wood turner can look at a piece for as long as six months before the idea takes seed\u2026and that\u2019s not to mention the other stages, which can extend over a long period of time.
\n <\/p>\n

Skills<\/h3>\n

 
\nThe pieces taken by Robin De Leeuw for these forest pariahs engender their share of problems. You have to cope with irregular structures, for example. The wood turner shows me a piece he is in the process of shaping from the fork of a tree, the grain of which is scattered in every direction. Be careful you don\u2019t break it! \u201cYou have to turn it at the right speed, otherwise it breaks up. But it gives you pieces that can last for generations,\u201d remarks Robin.<\/p>\n

For 12 years Robin De Leeuw has amazingly transformed wood, with his band saw, his lathe which is now computerized. \u201cI have extended my technical boundaries,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cI have evolved toward work that is more and more complicated and increasingly sophisticated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, Robin\u2019s creative works can be found in various Canadian provinces, in the United States and in Europe.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

You can meet Robin De Leeuw and buy his finished products at the Christmas Market in Sutton, which will be held at Veterans Park, at the corner of Maple and Pleasant Street, November 26-27 and December 3-4, 2016. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is one of a series of articles on the artists taking part in the various\u00a0Christmas markets in Brome-Missisquoi. Life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art_and_culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourismebrome-missisquoi.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}