Sculptor dies in chain saw accident

Glenn Dobrusky shows one of his wooden sculptures he planned to sell at last year’s Festival of the Arts. Pilot file photo

Glenn Walter Dobrusky, 58, was found dead at his home Tuesday afternoon.

Rector said an autopsy was performed Thursday and the result was consistent with an investigative finding that Dobrusky’s death was accidental.

“Analysis of the scene indicated that Mr. Dobrusky was working in his shop, using a chain saw on a wooden sculpture, when the chain saw blade somehow made contact with the throat area of his neck, causing a fatal wound,” Rector said. “It appears that the accident occurred sometime early in the morning on March 24.”

Dobrusky. a longtime Curry County resident, was a featured artist at the Brookings Festival of the Arts last year.

In an interview then, Dobrusky, a dedicated surfer, said he was turned on to wood carving when he moved to Hawaii in 1969 to chase the surf. He said he was introduced to wood carving by Paul Fujimoto, a Japanese carver he met in Hawaii.

“I worked with my Japanese friend and learned to carve. I carve for myself, what I like, and I’m fortunate today to be a full-time sculptor, and fortunate to sell in seven different galleries from San Diego to Anacortes, Wash.,” he said.

Dobrusky moved to Gold Beach in 1972 for the same reasons he moved to Hawaii – high surf and good wood, plus an added attraction, family living near Salem.

“I’ve been a dreamer a lot too,” he said. “I carve full time or not at all, but I’m always dreaming. You have to focus, and it’s important to finish the work.”

He said he worked five or six days a week.

“I usually work on 30 pieces at a time, in tool stages, five pelican, five salmon, five shore birds, five eagles. It’s the Henry Ford idea.”

He said that it’s more efficient to work on a number of pieces in stages, requiring the same tool at the same time.

“It’s efficient, but you’ve gotta be inspired. It’s the imagination.”

“In a piece of wood I look for a pelican, and may find an eagle,” Dobrusky said. “I keep a wood stash. Some days you feel like a duck and sometimes you don’t. You have to be in the mood. If you don’t have the juices flowing, it won’t work. When it does work, it’s priceless. You can’t buy that feeling, having designs bear fruit, and it can disappear in a heartbeat.”