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Jack Willoughby - Anvil Island Metal Art

Jack Willoughby - Anvil Island Metal Art

 

Jack Willoughby lived on Vancouver Island where the ocean beaches gave him much of his inspiration. Jack's career as an artist began in steel working, then teaching metal work at a Vancouver college where the freedom to be creative soon led him to start up Anvil Island Designs.

It was while teaching at BCIT that a student brought Jack a picture in a magazine of a Hopi-carved coyote howling at the moon. The student wondered if it could be replicated in metal. Jack did up a drawing and using the high-tech equipment available to him at the institute, made his first piece of metal art. From that point forward Jack put his pedal to the metal; he had found his passion.

He started working with leading Vancouver designers to custom create unique metal sculptures and functional metal art. His work started to be recognized. His art was picked up by a number of notable galleries such as Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Chuckanut Bay Gallery in Washington State and Skitch Gallery in Whistler. Frederique Philip of Sooke Harbour House gave Jack one of his biggest breaks. She asked to carry many of his most notable pieces in her gallery in the world-famous hotel on Vancouver Island.

By being true to his own vision of keeping it original and continuing to evolve, Jack’s art is now found in homes and offices worldwide and in upscale gift stores and art galleries across Canada and the US. The strength and simplicity of his work makes it equally at home in the house, office, or in an outdoor setting. Jack's medium is primarily steel, aluminum and copper.

Jack is also a humourist, nature lover, and storyteller. His quirky humour comes through in his black crow series. His love of nature and the sea is apparent in his widely-collected Japanese Maple Tree sculpture and his heron and octopus series. Cats, birds, dogs, dancing ladies, cavorting men, philosophical quotes, and one-of-a-kind commissions keep things interesting.

Jack was always looking, observing and thinking, much of which happens while riding his Harley Davidson, but often it was done by bouncing “what-do-you-think” ideas off wife, best friend and consort, Barb.