BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — If you drive to work on Highway 93 or stop for a hike along the Flatirons, chances are you'll pass what looks like a roadside art installation. It’s where an artist from Zimbabwe finds inspiration.
Bongo Love is a chainsaw artist who carves bears, owls, and even Bigfoot from massive pieces of reclaimed wood.
“He’s really big,” Love said, standing next to his Bigfoot carving. “He’s about 10 feet.”
Two things in Love's life brought him to his little piece of Colorado.
In Zimbabwe, a tourist gave him a Colorado Rockies shirt. It became his favorite, but he had no idea what Colorado was.
He also saw an advertisement for a chainsaw carving competition in Craig, Colorado. He decided to enter it without ever picking up a chainsaw.
“But I remember I never saw a chainsaw in my life,” he said.
These days, Love will get commissioned to someone’s house to carve a tree, but most days, he’s here on the side of the road, just about a half mile from the Flatirons Vista Trailhead. If you stop, you’ll see the beauty behind the bark.
