RHINELANDER (WJFW) \u2014 Rhinelander has no shortage of Hodag statues but another one is set to join the family this summer.<\/p>\n
Eau Claire sculptor Don Gaber was commissioned by his cousin and former Rhinelander resident, Ron Gaber, to create a metal Hodag sculpture. It will incorporate parts donated by the Rhinelander community and then be donated to the city.<\/p>\n
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Don has been a fan of Rhinelander\u00a0and its mascot for most of his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to come here quite often as kids,\u201d he said. \u201cMy grandpa lived over on King Street over here and I used to walk downtown and see all these businesses and I always saw this mythical creature: the Hodag. It always kind of intrigued me.\u201d<\/p>\n
When his cousin reached out, he gave him the perfect opportunity to show Rhinelander his appreciation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe and his wife Elsie have been following my work on my social media accounts,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing artwork full time since 2018 and he decided that he wanted to commission me to create a Hodag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don Gaber specializes in making metal sculptures that incorporate what most would consider scrap -old saw blades, street signs and lanterns. But he believes that those pieces make the sculptures special.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think it means more to people in town when they see the parts and recognize components they donated,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means something to the history of the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sculpture is planned to be about eight feet long and take inspiration from older Hodag designs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the old original\u00a0drawings and renderings of this thing\u2014it\u2019s been around a long time are kind of freakishly scary,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got smaller eyes and beady eyes. I\u2019m going to go for a cross between the new and the old versions of this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ArtStart is coordinating the Iron Hodag project and believe that this will make a great addition to the city\u2019s Hodag collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can identify with the Hodag,\u201d said Ashley McLaughlin, ArtStart\u2019s program and operations director. \u201cWhether they\u2019re local, whether they\u2019re visiting, whether they\u2019re generational visitors, people identify with the Hodag.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sculpture is planned to be completed and set up this summer. Those interested in donating items can email gaberssuperiorview@gmail.com<\/a>, jamisjan@rhinelander.k12.wi.us<\/a> with a photo of the items or contact ArtStart for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RHINELANDER (WJFW) \u2014 Rhinelander has no shortage of Hodag statues but another one is set to join the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1484,307,304,305,306,144558,144560,144551,144544,308,144547,144555,93,144545,144546,61,60,144557,12675,144553,637,144559,144548,144554,144549,144552,144556,144550,19721],"class_list":{"0":"post-307349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-artist","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-ashley-mclaughlin","14":"tag-begins-work","15":"tag-cryptid-town","16":"tag-culture-of-wisconsin","17":"tag-design","18":"tag-don-gaber","19":"tag-elsie","20":"tag-entertainment","21":"tag-hoaxes","22":"tag-hodag","23":"tag-ie","24":"tag-ireland","25":"tag-jamisjanrhinelander-k12-wi-us","26":"tag-king","27":"tag-king-street","28":"tag-metal","29":"tag-metal-sculptures","30":"tag-oneida-county","31":"tag-program-and-operations-director","32":"tag-rhinelander","33":"tag-ron-gaber","34":"tag-social-media-accounts","35":"tag-university-of-wisconsin-madison-hodags","36":"tag-wisconsin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}