Ad Wouters Explained

Ad Wouters (born 1944) is a sculptor, born in the Netherlands, who is active in Belgium in Leuven and the forest south of it. Wouters is known for his oak wood sculptures.^[1]

Biography

Wouters was born in Dordrecht. Starting at the age of 13, he worked in construction.^[2] At the age of 22 he traveled to Africa with the Belgian NGO Bouworde.^[3] After his stay in Africa, he went to live in Haasrode in Belgium, where he learned the skill of restoring buildings. Due to a work-related accident, where he fell from a church tower in the 90s he became unfit for this kind of work. From then on he developed himself as an artist.^[4]

Style

Wouters creates wood sculptures, mostly from oak tree trunks or from other recovered materials.^[5] He created his first wood sculpture accessible to the public, De Bosprotter commissioned by the forestry services of Meerdaal forest in the year 2000. He created several other sculptures since then.^[6]

Ad's itinerary

There is a path of 25 km one can take to march or cycle past most of Wouters' works through the woods of Heverlee and Meerdaal.^[7] ^[8]

Ad's itinerary leads past

Ignatius (2008)
The director (2007)
The Neanderthal man (2008)
Bat (2006)
The owl (2003)
Woodpecker (2007)
Inky cap (2007)
Baloo (2010)
The Bosprotter (2000)
Drowned (2014)

List of other works on display

Pootefretter (man eating carrot, which is the colloquial nickname for people from Haasrode) (1999), bronze statue in front of the community school of Haasrode
Saint Michael (2009), brass statue in the Church of Saint Michael Leuven
The Prophet (2012), wooden sculpture in the Sint-Donatus Park Leuven
Arum lily wooden sculpture located in the orangerie of the Botanical garden of Leuven
Drowned (2014), artwork made of litter, to symbolise how we are drowning in our own waste, located in Oud-Heverlee between the ponds.^[9]
Voor hen van toen, stone to commemorate the volunteers of natural reserve Doode Bemde. It's right next to a bridge of the now defunct tramway line.^[10] ^[11]

Notes and References

Book: Miradal, Erfgoed en Heverleebos en Meerdaalwoud . 2009 . Davidsfonds/Leuven . 9789058266248.
Web site: nl . Achter d'oechelen (Local newspaper of Oud-Heverlee) . 2006 . 2014-04-11 . 13 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140413125729/http://www.achterdoechelen.be/134_5.htm . dead .
Web site: nl . Article in a Flemish newspaper . 23 April 2014 . 22 March 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140322043450/http://users.skynet.be/fa281931/adwouters/Artikels/index.html . dead .
Web site: Ad Wouters' own web site (Dutch) . 3 June 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140517024658/http://adwouters.be/ . 17 May 2014 . dead .
Web site: nl . Saartje wanders around Zuid-Dijleland (Jump forward to 7 minutes) . Vlaanderen Vakantieland VRT (Flemish television), 2013 . Saartje Vandendriessche . 2013 . 23 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140422234102/http://www.een.be/programmas/vlaanderen-vakantieland/saartje-wandelt-in-Zuid-dijleland-Deel-2 . 22 April 2014 . dead . dmy-all .
Web site: 2fast4u.be . 23 April 2014 . 4 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092153/https://www.2fast4u.be/threads/21737-Motorrijder-komt-om-in-Oud-Heverlee . dead .
Web site: Tourism services Flemish-Brabant . 3 June 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140313151928/http://www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be/wandelen/het-pad-van-ad/index.jsp . 13 March 2014 . dead . dmy-all .
Web site: Touristic services Leuven . 3 June 2014.
nl . Erik Roosens . Zwerfvuilkunst siert Zoet Water . Nieuwsblad . 23 March 2014 .
Web site: nl . DVA . Nieuws UIT Doode Bemde . Vrienden van Heverleebos en Meerdaalwoud . 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120712012127/http://www.vhm.be/algemeen/nieuws-uit-de-doode-bemde . 12 July 2012 .
Doode Bemde, Nieuwsblad, 19 February 2009 http://www.nieuwsblad.be/articulo/detail.aspx?articuloid=4U26M2UG_16.