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I attended the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine on Friday. One of the real joys was to view these wooden face sculptures that are created by Ron Cowan and his son Ryan.

Ron lives and works in Belfast, Maine, a small mid-coast community perched on the edge of the great Penobscot Bay with his wife, Cherie. Using chainsaw, chisel and grinder, Ron has made a name for himself sculpting faces in old barn beams, stumps, and logs. A tour of the town and the surrounding area gives much evidence of his labor, with many pieces standing along public ways and in favored spots in private gardens. One of Cowan’s pieces can be found in the city harbor, a seven figure sculpture that slowly disappears beneath the Atlantic tide each day. The artist spent three months placing the pieces in the old cribbing remains of a ship building pier as part of Belfast’s annual Arts in the Park event. Titled “The Long Breath,” the attraction was so popular the city purchased the pieces from Cowan at the end of the summer. Another of his pieces, “Antonio,” was used in several scenes of the Mel Gibson movie “Man Without a Face.” You can find Ron’s work across the U.S., as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, and Canada.