If you’ve ever driven along Highway 93 between Boulder and Golden, Colorado, there’s a unique pullout where you can easily see bears, wolves, eagles, owls, a gigantic tortoise, and even Bigfoot. All of these large-scale creatures have been carefully sculpted out of wood by Bongo Love, an acclaimed chainsaw artist.
On a sunny afternoon in Golden, Bongo is outside his shop, a converted shipping container, carefully adding the finishing touches to an owl sculpture.
He’s using his chainsaw to round out the owl’s eye.
“I’ve been working for a week now, two weeks. So today I’m going to be doing details and finishing it,” he said.
Bongo Love, originally from Zimbabwe, was given his unusual first name by his grandfather.
“In Africa we played music, we played drums and we danced. On special occasions. So I played drums when I was little. But my grandfather gave me the name ‘Bongo’.”
Ellen Mahoney
/
Rocky Mountain Community Radio
Growing up in Zimbabwe, Bongo was part of the Shona Tribe, renowned for their sculpting.
“I got started in sculpting at an early, early, early age. Maybe I was seven, I can’t remember. But my grandfather used to carve a lot. So, one day he gave me my own piece of stone. He taught me how to hold the tools because in most cases, the most important thing is how to handle the tools.” he said.
In 2000, Bongo moved to Boulder, Colorado, when he was in his mid-twenties. He missed Africa and music was his refuge.
“When I was playing music, it was also my getaway from homesickness. Because the worst thing when you come to America is the homesickness. So, to get rid of that, so I just started playing music so I could just be in a different zone.”
Ellen Mahoney
/
Rocky Mountain Community Radio
After a few years in Boulder, Bongo wanted to get back to sculpting. He found a chainsaw competition called “Whittle the Wood” in Craig, Colorado. Even though he had never used a chainsaw, he decided to give it a go.
“So, when I showed up, the trees were so big. So, I’m looking at the chainsaws, and (thinnking) ‘Oh okay.’ So, I asked the other guy, I say, ‘Can you start it for me? So he started it,” he said.
“So he cut, he cut, he cut. Then I’m like, ‘Oh I got it.’ That’s how I started. But it was hard. I was using the chainsaw like a chisel, you know? So, it took me a long time and the chainsaws were heavy.”
Over the years, Bongo became very skilled at carving. In 2022 he was invited to participate in season one of the Discovery Channel’s chainsaw competition “A Cut Above.” During the TV series, which was filmed in Canada, Bongo carved an abstract bongo player.
“What they had there was this beautiful cedar from British Columbia. We were carving main pieces for seven hours. So people were getting eliminated but I was not getting eliminated for a while.”
Ellen Mahoney
/
Rocky Mountain Community Radio
On returning to Colorado, Bongo continued to grow his business with shops all over the Front Range. But the loud sounds of the chainsaw sometimes annoyed his neighbors. Today he can be as loud as he wants on Highway 93.
“You know, this is the best place to be creative. I’m behind the most beautiful view you can ever see in the whole of Boulder. And there’s no buildings around here. It’s just open space. And you can actually dream, you know?”
Copyright 2024 Rocky Mountain Community Radio.
This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including Aspen Public Radio.
