Sep 24, 2009 5:32 pm US/Central
Someone You Should Know: Sculptor Ryan Matijevich
LAKE STATION, Ind. (CBS) ―
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Ryan Matijevich creates custom art carvings out of logs with a gasoline-powered chain saw.
CBS
Take a log and a chain saw, add some creativity and a love of nature, and you've got an incredible local artist. CBS 2's Harry Porterfield reports that Ryan Matijevich is definitely someone you should know.
His studio is a tent on Route 51 and Central in Lake Station, Indiana. When the dust and the wood chips began to fly, you know that Ryan Matijevich is at work on another sculpture.
"Most of the time logs are a nuisance to most people, and they just want to get rid of them. But I see something a little different," Matijevich said.
Some artists use a paintbrush or a chisel as a tool of the trade. This artist uses gasoline. Using a gasoline-powered chain saw, an ordinary log is transformed into an extraordinary figure from Matijevich's imagination. And he does it without any formal art training.
"I like to paint, draw but just messing around, having fun," Matijevich said. "I was a plumber and general contractor before I started doing this, so something in my spare time, now I'm doing it full time. There's no stopping it. Pretty soon it takes over you."
Matijevich's supply of logs comes from tree service workers who drop them off behind his studio rather than grind them up.
"They'd be mulch if I didn't get ahold of them," Matijevich said. "A log is like a palette to a painter. There's an artist who said there's one thing in there that's crawling to come out. Well, I see a million different things that it could be as long as they fit."
Since he started full time a year and a half ago, the 35-year-old father of two boys and four girls finds that his wood carving business is seriously threatening his leisure time.
"I've been doing festivals, do some charity work. I take custom orders from people. I rarely get time to make things I want to make," Matijevich said.
But he did take time to create a dragon figure surrounded by castles - strictly for himself.
"This is what's in my heart to do and I love doing it. I see myself probably doing this the rest of my life. When you do what you love, they say you live a little bit longer," Matijevich said.
Ryan Matijevich: sculptor, nature lover and someone you should know.
Matijevich says it can take anywhere from half an hour to four days to complete one work of art. He says the log really creates the piece and each and every one is different.
Click here to learn more about Ryan Matijevich and to see some of his custom art carvings.
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