Harry Leurink, Sculptor and Woodcarver
Harry Leurink (born 1960 in Gorssel, Holland) studied sculpture at the Art Academy in Den Bosch. After graduating, he worked as a musician and songwriter in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, until tiring of city life in 1995. Inspired by nonconformist Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, Harry traveled to the peaceful eastern part of his beloved Holland, finding a job as a forester at “The Veluwe” national Park.
Around 2000, he took up carving wood as a way to quiet his hunger for silence, solitude and tranquility. Discovering a natural talent for producing high-quality wood sculptures, his status as a master sculptor rose very quickly. It wasn’t long before he was able to make a good living producing breathtaking wooden masterpieces.
Today, the subjects of his commissioned pieces are largely decided by his clients; park benches, wooden tombs, Celtic crosses, and wooden reliefs are but a few of his ever-growing repertoire of work. He has also become more and more focused on sculpting "after nature, and a growing desire to push the boundaries of his art; namely, portraits in wood, the ultimate challenge for woodcarvers.
Wood is a taxing and demanding medium to work with, as any wood sculptor can tell you; creating an image, let alone a portrait, in clay or metal is child’s play when compared to carving it from a single piece of wood; one slip, one knot, one mistake and the entire piece is ruined, and must be restarted from scratch.
A portrait (aside from an anonymous face), cut from a single piece of solid wood sets the bar for artistic perfection extremely high, and opens vast new territories in art. Harry Leurink is the pioneer of that territory, and creates works of art unmatched in America.
Harry uses modern 3D scan techniques to ensure that models are no longer required to pose for weeks on end; instead, a high-resolution 3-dimensional image of the subject serves as a reference. This allows amazingly accurate portraits of wood to cut. Each portrait is carved by Harry Leurink personally or by a professional assistant sculptor under his direct supervision.