Lithuanian artist Vidas Nugaras, who’s been carving wood since he was a child, describes the feeling of sculpting with a chainsaw as being like “riding a Harley.”
The 45-year-old lives in a village and works sharpening wood tools in a shop by day—while using power tools to create commissions and partake in chainsaw carving competitions on the side.
Over the summer, Vidas took on a monumental chainsaw art project: to sculpt a massive, soaring eagle with its wings stretched out, banking steeply at 90 degrees. The completed work depicts the eagle’s beak agape as if to let out a peal cry, echoing throughout some misty mountain valley.
“It was very hot weather in Lithuania, so it was a challenge,” Vidas told The Epoch Times of the carving endeavor. “One of my clients wanted special work. I created such eagle which nobody [has] in our country. So I fulfilled my client’s dream.”
The huge eagle sculpture stands 3.1 meters in height. The artist used two oak logs which he glued together to carve the bird.
“This sculpture was high and big, that is why I needed to work on the ladder with heavy chainsaw,” Vidas said. “I did this work almost only with chainsaw—about 99 percent.”
Vidas’s summer eagle project is somewhat unique in his country, he added, though its eyes, which he rendered in dark tones—his trademark—are something locals are familiar with.
The artist’s Facebook page presents his extensive portfolio, and is filled with photos of his other animal creations—birds, mice, owls, rabbits, bears—as well as fantastically dreamt up characters—gnomes, sprites, goblins, and more. An element of humor subsumes all of Vidas’s carvings.
“I didn’t finish any art school, I learned to work with wood myself,” he said. “I’m doing it until now.
“I’m curious person, so I’m looking for a new information about wood carving regularly. So, I found chainsaw carving. This type of carving is more interesting, impressible, more attractive.”
The Lithuanian is not only prolific in creating art, but he also competes regularly in chainsaw carving competitions which draw talented artists to his home country from across the world.
“I have attended in the few international competition of chainsaw carving in Lithuania," he added. “I have a lot of friends-woodcarvers in the all over the world.”
