Dude the Gargoyle has recently taken up residence at the front door of a prominent Millicent business.
Gargoyles are fictitious and fearsome creatures usually spied aloft on medieval cathedrals and palaces in Europe.
Rather than being carved from stone, Dude is crafted from aged timber.
Carved and created by Ant and Hat Martin over the past five years from a single Australian River Redgum trunk, he greets callers to their Ants Redgum Gallery on Williams Road and opposite McLaughlin Park.
The log originally came from Strathalbyn and was used during early settlers’ time as a roller.
A Millicent resident brought it to this district and subsequently sold it to the Martins.
It took more than 400 hours to complete at their Lossie Road workshop and the five-year span of the project was due to private commissions taking priority.
Ant and Hat also made his plinth in their workshop from redgum and tewet.
According to legend, the ugly appearance of gargoyles is designed to ward off evil spirits.
Hat hopes Dude will fulfill this purpose at their commercial gallery until a purchaser for him is found.
“I am slightly superstitious,” Hat said.
“We have made Dude not quite so scary.”
Founded in 2009, the artwork and gallery are very much a joint enterprise.
Ant does the carving while Hat assists with design and the application of the resin.
Dude has taken the place of a carved redgum super-size eagle which has found a new nest, so to speak.
It was purchased by the Hatherleigh Football Club whose mascot is an eagle.
As with many other enterprises, Ants Redgum Gallery has been adversely impacted by the COVID pandemic over the past 18 months.
Most disruptive of all to the Millicent tourist drawcard was a six-week period in mid-2020 when all such galleries across South Australia were closed to the public.
Hat said visitor numbers had yet to return to pre-COVID levels.
“We used to get a lot of callers from Melbourne and New South Wales,” she said.
“We are now seeing more people from Adelaide.”
In an attempt to drive interest in the gallery and sales of carved timber pieces, Hat has increasingly turned to hosting groups and bus tours.
“We have had groups like Probus come through,” she said.
“There are 50 exhibits in the gallery and every one has a background story.
“My tours of the gallery last about an hour.”
With less activity in commissions and at their gallery, Ant and Hat have turned to another wood enterprise in order to generate an income.
They source fallen red gum across the district, cut the limbs into rounds and on-sell it to a firewood wholesaler.
Nevertheless, wood sculpture remains their great love and they are currently working on a depiction of the mythical Medusa.
Ant’s public commissions can be seen in this region at Lake Albert at Meningie, Mount Gambier rail lands and Millicent’s Domain playground.
