Over 40 years of working on boom boats, Wes Seeley has seen many spectacular moments involving eagles.
Now retired, the Comox artist translates some of those moments into wooden sculptures. His newest piece depicts a pair of clashing eagles 鈥� one clasping a snake 鈥� which is displayed at the Designer Woodworks gallery in Courtenay.
鈥淭hat was so much fun to build, because it was an impact situation,鈥� says Seeley, a self-taught artist. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the beauty of this. I see eagles all the time, fighting and mating and grabbing ducks, and doing all kinds of stuff. In my mind, I have all these images that I can work from鈥hey鈥檙e the top of the food chain, and they don鈥檛 take any crap from anybody.鈥�
Seeley created the piece out of red and yellow cedar, and some Douglas Fir, which can be found locally. He also used aromatic cedar, which needed to be imported from Tennessee.
鈥淚n the old days, they would make jewellery boxes out of it, because it had such a nice smell to it.鈥�
He also sent away for a stuffed diamondback rattlesnake 鈥� which has been pierced by the talons of the top eagle in the sculpture. The bottom eagle has slammed into the leading edge of its counterpart, bending back its feathers.
At one point in the year-long process, Seeley decided to replace a straight portion of the top eagle鈥檚 wing with a curved piece.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the fun about being an artist,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be afraid to lop off a chunk, and throw it in the fire, and build it again.鈥�
He also notes the advantage of thinking three dimensionally.
鈥淚鈥檓 lucky,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen this piece in my mind before I even cut out the first feather.鈥�
Seeley has been sculpting for about 10 years. Recently, he said the hobby has been 鈥渢ending towards a living.鈥� One completed eagle can sell for $70,000.
Before starting this project, he had completed another life-sized wood sculpture, which was two eagle sculptures connected at the wings.
鈥淭his is so much more involved; the others are single units, this is built together,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about the detail now.鈥�
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