Wood Carvings – John Ostenstad

Press Release
The Maillardville Cultural Appreciation Society is honoured to present a retrospective of work by John Ostenstad. A Canadian airforce navigator, Fraser Mills worker, artist and teacher, John Ostenstad made a lasting impact on the community of Maillardville and Coquitlam at large. Over the years Ostenstad meticulously crafted thousands of wood carvings from Fraser River driftwood, found materials and various local woods, most of which now exists in various private collections throughout the lower mainland. For this posthumous retrospective a selection of John’s substantial output will be displayed along with two new pieces made in tribute to his work as an artist.
The MCAS would like to extend a special thanks to John’s daughters Chris and Jane Ostenstad without whose support this exhibit would not have been possible.

“After I’m Gone”

At times we understand the most important people in our lives from what they have made. People are too fluid to be remembered like objects. What they produce become tools to hastily construct memories of who they once were. These objects are remnants of time spent in a relationship to material and they grow into beings, compressed versions of their creator, standing in those we won’t ever again see. What you made however was not for me, it was for you, as it should be, yet others and I still took from it.

Perhaps when we can receive so much from something that was never made with us in mind we realize how generous objects can be. Your daughter once mentioned a philosophy called Janta that you seemed to live by. From this outlook you received your personal deference and modesty in all the things you made. Pride was never part of the equation simply an attitude that stifled exhibitionism and instead lead to productivity unencumbered by thoughts of postured position or personal agenda. Work becomes something that simply must be done, for no other end than its own. The love you pass on comes from a basic desire, a need to do, with no concern for a need to be.