Duncan man spends 7 years transforming 6,000-pound tree burl into massive art piece
The huge maple in the front yard was one of those trees that helped turn Glen’s house into a home.
“I loved the tree. My kids played on it and in it,” Glen says, showing me old pictures of his daughters smiling around it. “It was a very special tree.”
Glen says he tried everything to save the tree until he realized it was beyond repair and had to be cut it down.
“But I thought maybe I should save the burl,” he says, pointing to a picture of a large bulbous growth at the base of the maple’s trunk.
Glen wondered if he could cut part of the burl off and have the wood turned into a couple commemorative bowls or something.
But then Glen discovered it was just the tip of the iceberg; the burl was growing three feet underground.
“It took me a long time,” he says before smiling at his attempt to excavate the huge burl with a shovel. “I dug it by hand.”
Despite being a professional backhoe operator, Glen felt a strong compulsion to not damage the burl, and keep the 6,000-pound piece of wood intact,
“I have to try to do this,” he remembers thinking. “Everyone told me I couldn’t do it.”
Three weeks later, Glen did do it. And then — despite no previous experience — he started transforming its 350-sq-feet of surface area.
“I was just known as the crazy guy working on the burl,” he laughs.
Glen spent 20 hours a week sanding it and polishing it for seven years; revealing intricate patterns in the burl’s wood that he found mesmerizing.
“I would come out and just be – I wouldn’t think about my job, I wouldn’t think about anything,” he says. “I would just concentrate [on the burl] and it was like a therapy.”
It wasn’t just him. Glen shows me a guest book filled with signatures. He says he’s welcomed thousands of curious visitors who spotted the burl at the end of his driveway and witnessed their moods improve.
“I show it to them and the reaction I get, it’s incredible,” he says, showing me pictures of babies, seniors and people of all ages in between smiling around the burl. “It makes them feel good.”
Because of all the goodwill it seems to inspire, Glen hopes the burl will one day find a new home where it can be seen by even more people — like an airport, museum, or even an art gallery.
“It is a piece of art. [Although] I didn’t really think of myself as an artist,” Glen smiles, “It’s just a way of life for me really.”
Which brings us to the new life Glen found sprouting close to where the big maple was once growing.
“It was obviously a baby from that tree,” Glen smiles, before saying he nurtured the seedling for years before replanting it in the same place its parent had once stood — where it now towers above the yard.
I ask why he went to the effort to care for the baby tree. Glen takes a moment before taking a big breath.
“[It’s] giving back to nature,” he says emotionally, before gesturing to the burl. “For giving me that.”
It's an expression of gratitude for all the joy the burl’s brought to so many.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.