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Brent Buskard’s restless nature led him to develop many skills

April 20, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Even artists who are clear about what stirs their muse, who focus primarily on a single medium and approach, want to break out, once in a while, and do what they do differently or do something altogether diverse.

Wood carver, custom cabinet maker, steel sculptor, painter, Brent Buskard loves to chop and change what he puts his hands to.

He told the Citizen, “I work on something so long; then, I want to try something new – once it’s not new and you try something else new and then, in the end – you come back to it; this goes on for so long and then you run out of interest and move on.”

Could be clear as mud, in many ways, but when you hear about his life as an artist, the message is that Mr. Buskard has learned a great deal along the way.

He admitted, “I’m not much doing much at this point. I’m limited to staying around the house and doing a little bit of what I can do. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been working on custom furniture for a friend and then other people. I like making custom cabinets: tables, a person will ask me to build something to fit ‘this space’. 

“I’ve done carving before, just for something to do.

“I fell off a roof and broke my leg and, then, I started carving – bird carving and, then, large animals. I’ve been doing that type of thing.

“I used to paint – landscape, still lifes,” he said. “I stopped painting when the kids were old enough to want to get into my paints. Then, I moved into the workshop and did work there. A lot of people ask me to build things they see in pictures – a bar, cupboard – chair – something different every time.”

Artistically, Mr. Buskard is a restless soul, an adventurer.

“I try everything,” he said, explaining. “I got sick of wood work for a while. Then, I had a lot of scrap metal around the shop and started doing sculptures from steel – dragons and birds. A friend asked me to make a statue for his son. So, I made a sculpture from Lord of the Rings of Gandalf about three feet tall. Probably, there’s over three hundred pieces welded together. I shaped it piece by piece. It was a lot of hammering. I did that for a couple of years.”

Time for something new: “I went on to making things on my lathe, bowls and things. I make things whether people are in the market or not. This is, really, how to piece a life together…” for a man of many skills. 

“I love doing it, any time I can doing anything with my hands,” was Mr. Buskard’s comment. “The finished product is the important part. What I sell a thing for, adding it up to the amount of time I actually spend on something because I just want to do it –

“I’m not making much money,” and we could almost see his facial expression of admitting it and the shrug of his shoulders.

“If I build a piece of furniture,” he continued, “I want to build something that they can pass it on to their kids. The main part of it is, how long it will last. The same with the carvings. l love the little details, details with painting and carvings. If I look at it and I don’t like it I won’t let it go until it’s right by my eyes.”

He insisted, “I have to be comfortable with whatever I make or build. I don’t like anything half done. It has to be right with me before I let anything go.

“You can’t get together and talk face to face [right now],” said he talking about relationships in business, in life. “When I was younger, I didn’t want to be in a job dealing with people. Now, I know it’s actually the important part to talk with people, when you can once again. You don’t realize how important social contact is, until it’s been taken away. I’m really looking forward to be able to talk to people again. If you have kids and you can’t see them, you talk to them on the phone.

“I was born in Sault Ste. Marie, but I came down here because there was no work up there. My mother is up there but she’s always busy.”

By now he thinks, “I’m going to stick with wood. If I could do it as a full-time job; that’s what keeps things interesting, keeps things alive. I look for things and I come up with an idea and I start building things.” 

Mr. Buskard does have thoughts about after COVID-19: “If I could just do that – making furniture.. I think it means more if something is hand made, especially if you have some input as to the results. You make things to their specs, what they need, instead of choosing the best they can from a store.” 

He said about this present time, “The main thing is, everybody’s limited. The weather’s getting nice.” 

His advice for dealing with this: “Stay in contact with people; keep your distance, if you go out.”

His website: brentbuskard@hotmail.com

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