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9/29/21 - ArtPrize Entry Honors Fellow Soldiers

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 3:51 PM

ArtPrize entries submitted by veterans are located at Veterans Park in downtown Grand Rapids, across from the city Library and the Children's Museum. Photo courtesy of the City of Grand Rapids, 9/29/21.

Local veteran George Doornbos created a piece depicting a soldier honoring a fallen comrade. The piece that only stands 19 inches tall and an inch and a half deep took over 60 hours to complete.

Amongst the hundreds of Art Prize entries, stands several that look to honor those who may be dealing with the trauma left behind by war.  87-year old George Doornbos is an Army veteran with a piece that looks to honor the sacrifice of soldiers, yet offer hope.

"We're hoping that they can find some fulfillment and maybe picking up on some type of art or any kind of a hobby that, that would be helpful to them."

Doornbos' piece is entitled 'Honoring a Fallen Comrade' and is on display at the Grand Rapids Veterans Park off of Fuller in downtown Grand Rapids.  Along with other artwork by local veterans.

Doornbos used a technique for his detailed wood carving called Intarsia.  It’s a process of layering several hundred pieces of wood and creating a figure. 

"I start out with a pattern of what I want to do.  That pattern is glued onto a flat piece of wood, about a quarter inch thick.  And then I cut out all the individual pieces.  In this particular case, there were 220 separate pieces.  I cut them out, formed them using hand sanding and various machinery.  Stained them to a certain color, put them back together, and that forms the complete object."

Doorbos estimates the 19-inch tall figure took around 60-70 hours to complete. Doornbos doesn't consider himself a patient individual, and says by nature he's not a patient individual.  However, he's enjoyed the process so much. 

You can hear Doornbos describe the process called Intarsia by clicking on the player below.

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