News
Carver brings birds to life through his work
Scott Wagar
12/16/2014
It is not uncommon to find Brad Trebas in his shop during the winter months carving waterfowl pieces with such great accuracy that at times it is hard to determine if it is the real thing or not.
“I got into carving because winters are long in North Dakota,” Trebas said with a smile on his face. “I have always painted and stuff but I’ve always wanted to get into three dimensional work.”
Trebas started carving wood in 1997 after watching the late Arlen Evensen work his artistic magic with wood in front of Trebas.
“I just picked it up and started working at it,” Trebas said.
After 17 years of carving, Trebas, through his sojourn of wood carving, has mastered the art of form and creates remarkable lifelike pieces; and, he dose so through the traditional manner of using knifes to modern day tools, which he prefers best because he can bring exactness to his wood sculptures.
Although Trebas has carved a variety of different art forums, he primarily focuses on waterfowl and has carved to date around 35 full-scale birds, along with a number of smaller scale birds.
“Sometimes I make a smaller scale because they are too big,” Trebas said. “I have done a Bald Eagle in a third size because of the Eagle’s size along with a Snowy Owl that is also a third size scale. Other than that I have tried to keep my carvings full scale or close to it.”
The medium of wood Trebas utilizes when he carves is Tupelo with Basswood on occasion.
“Tupelo is the best wood for carving,” Trebas said. “It is actually grown in the Bayou of Louisiana. It is a swamp wood and it is kind of a strange wood because they are a big and huge tree and the only part of the tree that is good for carving is from the water to about five feet, the rest of the tree is as hard as a rock and not good for carving.”
He starts with a square piece of wood, which he draws the waterfowl he will carve to scale and begins the process of shaping the wood block into a bird.
It takes Trebas anywhere from 120 to 150 hours to carve a bird, which includes detailed texturing, wood burning and painting the piece. The details are so precise in his work that in some of the feathers in the carving have 190 to 200 wood burns on each of them, dozens of different size textures in the breast of the birds and a number of perfectly matched colors of the waterfowl he carves that he does either by hand or air brushes.
His preciseness comes from when Trebas was an avid hunter.
“As a hunter, I would measure wings, count feathers and paint pictures,” Trebas said. “I would also make close up, detailed impressions of their feet, heads and other parts like that for reference.”
Besides waterfowl, Trebas also carves fish, lamps, walking sticks, crosses and nativity scenes.
“I do a little of everything,” he said.
Art has always been a part of Trebas’ life, from different formats and mediums in the arts, to his first job as a young man working as an auto body shop technician detailing vehicles. Trebas’ innovative mind, eyes and hands have brought his art pieces to a defining signature through his techniques as a sculptor/painter, which is granting him immortality in the field of art and carving.
Individuals, who are interested in Trebas’ carvings or acquiring one of his pieces, can contact him at (701) 228-2339 or (701) 228-5955.