If you, like me, you were too busy at the beaver festival to watch Robert Rust create his historical, artistic all natural wattle and daub beaver, you might enjoy this video taken by Bob Kobres of Georgia documenting his creation. This is at the very back corner behind the festival, and there’s still a fair amount of traffic. Remember he started with a framed beaver filled with a crosshatch of willow stems, and fills it in just like a real beaver.
So after he was done weaving, he mixed the wattle with his bare feet and dabbed it onto the beaver over the course of an hour. Here’s the exciting conclusion. If you think Bob is more historian than artist, pay special attention to the 8 minute mark when he gets down to finishing touches.
I’m so grateful for his wildcard of creativity which always brings something magical to the festival, and for Bob Kobres capturing the thing on video. I spend a lot of time planning how the festival will work, but I could never even dream up this and sometimes the unplanned things are the very best!
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Lately I’ve been thinking about the way that beaver life is written in the water, and the intimate relationship beavers have with it. A kind of mirror they live with every day that records their every intention. This probably isn’t the last poem I’ll write about it, but it will do for now.
