BY DUCK PATERSON
A stroll along the trail on Ladysmith’s waterfront can reveal some very interesting carvings, but you need to be looking for them.
Along the trail between Slack Point and Transfer Beach, there are a variety of characters carved into the rocks, along with some wooden carvings hidden in the trees. Some of the artwork is actually along the rocks at the beach, so one would have to wait for low tide to see it all.
Local Diamond resident Brian Hart is the unsung artist behind the pieces found along this and other trails in the area. Hart, who turns 80 next month, said he’s been doing this kind of carving and woodwork for well over a decade.
His initial career was as the head sawyer for Doman’s sawmill at Duke Point. He also did a stint at property management until the age of 50 when he decided to pack in the ‘9 to 5’ and start doing what he wanted.
Asked why he does the carvings, Hart responded “I just wanted to share what I saw and what I could create with it.”
He says he doesn’t make big changes to the rocks and granite banks along the trails.
“I walk along and I’ll see an eye or a nose or even a wing and then I just start to work on it and the creature just comes out,” he said.
Hart takes his cordless angle grinder with him frequently, in case he discovers something that he can recreate into a piece that folks can talk about.
One of Hart’s more noticeable creations is the Ursa Major constellation containing the stars of the Big Dipper.
“When I saw the image of a bear on the rock wall, just south of the road to the community marina, I figured that it could contain the two stars in the dipper that point to the North Star,” he said. “I felt this was very appropriate because the dipper and the North Star were key navigational aids for mariners, and the location here at the marina was the spot for it.”
The work he’s done along the waterfront trail encompasses more than 15 different carvings. At the top of the trail, by the steam donkey on Transfer Beach Boulevard, Hart has carved a sea creature into a boulder. Another boulder has representations of the moon and the sun, and a little further along the parking lot there’s a polar bear carved into the rock.
Hart mentioned that there had been another gentleman carving stone at the amphitheatre a dozen years ago.
“He was doing faces of old men, different creatures and such and they still get attention but unfortunately some of them are [getting] overgrown by weeds and ivy and are no longer visible,” he said. “I’d like it if the town could clean the vegetation from around them and let folks see the art again.”
Some of the carvings are just outlines and Hart said it’s great to see that children sometimes colour them using chalk, which wears off “so that they can colour again.”
Hart has also done pieces in other parts of town, including Holland Creek Trail. One of his favourite carvings depicts salmon and an otter on a boulder at the bottom of the Dogwood Dip.
On the marine trail, Hart pointed out an owl that he carved 15 years ago and has been perched in the tree that long.
“Sometimes they’re there for a long time and sometimes they’re gone quickly,” he said. “I don’t mind because that shows that they are appreciated and make someone smile and that’s the goal … We have an amazing place here, and it’s ours to look after. We need to be able to make people smile and enjoy where we are.”