Ad Wouters (born 1944) is a sculptor, born in the Netherlands, who is active in Belgium in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

and the forest south of it. Wouters is known for his oak wood sculptures.

Biography

Wouters was born in Dordrecht. Starting at the age of 13, he worked in construction. At the age of 22 he traveled to Africa with the Belgian NGO Bouworde. After his stay in Africa, he went to live in

Haasrode Oud-Heverlee () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the villages of ''Blanden'', '' Haasrode'', ''Oud-Heverlee proper'', '' Sint-Joris-Weert'' and ''Vaalbeek''. On January 1, 2018, Oud- ...

in Belgium, where he learned the skill of restoring buildings. Due to a work related accident, where he fell from a church tower in the 90s he became unfit for this kind of work. From then on he developed himself as an artist.

Style

Wouters creates wood sculptures, mostly from oak tree trunks or from other recovered materials. He created his first wood sculpture accessible to the public, ''De Bosprotter'' commissioned by the forestry services of Meerdaal forest in the year 2000. He created several other sculptures since then.

Ad's itinerary

There is a path of 25 km one can take to march or cycle past most of Wouters' works through the woods of Heverlee and

Meerdaal Meerdaal, also known as Meerdaalwoud and Meerdaalbos, is a woodland lying east of Brussels and south of Leuven, on the loess plateau of Province of Brabant, Brabant in central Belgium. The bigger part of it has most likely been continuously forest ...

Ad's itinerary leads past

*''Ignatius'' (2008) *''The director'' (2007) *''The Neanderthal man'' (2008) *''Bat'' (2006) *''The owl'' (2003) *''Woodpecker'' (2007) *''Inky cap'' (2007) *''Baloo'' (2010) *''The Bosprotter'' (2000) *''Drowned'' (2014) De Bosprotter.jpg, ''The Bosprotter'' (2000) The Bat (Ad Wouters) 1.jpg, ''Bat'' (2006) Ignatius (DSC 1937).jpg, ''Ignatius'' (2008) De Neanderthaler (DSC 1945).jpg, De Neanderthaler (2008)

List of other works on display

* ''Pootefretter'' (man eating carrot, which is the colloquial nickname for people from Haasrode) (1999), bronze statue in front of the community school of

* ''Saint Michael'' (2009), brass statue in the Church of Saint Michael Leuven * ''The Prophet'' (2012), wooden sculpture in the

Sint-Donatus Park The Sint-Donatus Park is an urban park with a village green in Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located ...

Leuven * ''Arum lily'' wooden sculpture located in the orangerie of the Botanical garden of Leuven * ''Drowned'' (2014), artwork made of litter, to symbolise how we are drowning in our own waste, located in Oud-Heverlee between the ponds. * ''Voor hen van toen'', stone to commemorate the volunteers of natural reserve Doode Bemde. It's right next to a bridge of the now defunct tramway line.Doode Bemde, Nieuwsblad, 19 February 2009 http://www.nieuwsblad.be/articulo/detail.aspx?articuloid=4U26M2UG_16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wouters, Ad 1944 births Living people Artists from Dordrecht Belgian sculptors Dutch sculptors Dutch male sculptors