Friends Park

The old Cypress pine tree was sculpted by Roland Gabatel

With each sculpture Gabatel attempts to find inspiration in the immediate environment but when that fails he doesn’t mind looking elsewhere.

Like the Friends Park sculpture, a huge cypress pine radiating four massive branches, one of which is 9½m tall.

While the sculpture is set in an old Quakers’ cemetery, Gabatel decided to re-create something he had once seen in a documentary of people releasing birds into the air to make a wish.

He turned the four branches into four soaring beings releasing birds – the artwork giving the park and former cemetery a calm and tranquil feel.

“It’s supposed to make you feel good and I think releasing the birds is a good image for a cemetery, I think the piece goes really well in the setting,” Roland says.

Gabatel uses a chainsaw to create the basic shape of his design and then brings in the mallets, chisels and other power tools to add the fine details.

http://www.chisel.com.au/chisel-articles/2006/1/28/carving-out-a-reputation/