By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
The latest in a series of wooden sculptures is a ‘keeper’ for the residents of Shrewsbury.
Mike Winia, a world-renowned chainsaw sculptor from Bothwell, unveiled his nine-foot, 6,000-pound largemouth bass wooden sculpture on the front lawn of the Shrewsbury Community Hall on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The colourful wooden art piece is the fourth creation by Winia that will be placed in communities across Chatham-Kent later this year and into 2026.
Winia’s first three sculptures are in Ridgetown (a baseball and glove in honour of Harry O’Neill’s invention of the slider), Thamesville (the War of 1812), and at the entrance to Rondeau Provincial Park (turtles in a canoe).
The next sculptures are planned for Highgate, Bothwell and Wallaceburg before the end of the year.
Winia first met with members of the Shrewsbury Community Association about three months ago to discuss the theme for their wooden art piece.
With the village’s deep connection to the outdoors and fishing, a bass was an obvious choice.
“When this project came up and the whole idea of a fish-related subject, I got pretty excited,” Winia said. “This is dear to my heart because of all the bass fishing I’ve done in Shrewsbury.”
Winia told the gathering that although he lives in Bothwell, he is no stranger to the Shrewsbury and Rondeau Park area, where his grandfather, Elmer Winia, was a park manager for 40 years.
“I assure you, you have all seen my truck and boat out here many times,” he said. “Early spring, I am always the first one catching crappies here. These swamps are like my second home.”
“And I’m one of the guys who picks up the garbage that foreigners leave behind,” said Winia.
As he did with his other projects, Winia brought in another world-class chainsaw artist to help with the Shrewsbury bass.
Levi Caya, from Apsley, Ont., was Winia’s assistant for this project.
“He loves carving bass. I gave him the opportunity to do the biggest bass he’s ever done,” Winia said.
It took the pair about two weeks, start to finish, to complete the carving.
This carving, however, is the first of the local projects to be painted. As well as being a world-class chainsaw sculptor, Winia is an accomplished painter in various media.
“Most sculptures look really good with just the wood, in this case, because it’s a bass, I thought it would look better with some colour,” said Winia, adding that a painted sculpture would stand out better with the background at the community centre.
He said painting the sculpture wasn’t difficult at all.
“It was getting the paint, it was sold out everywhere,” he said, as he used a Belton paint that is specialized for outdoor artwork and graffiti.
Winia said it took about four days with the sanding and painting to finish colouring the bass.
He told the audience that the carving is made of white oak, the strongest wood for carving, “that stands the test of time.”
“It will still need to be checked for weathering and how the paint’s holding up,” he stated.
“I’ll be coming around to check up on that myself … because I’ll be out here fishing all the time,” he said, to the laughter and applause from the audience.
The Shrewsbury bass is the fourth of 17 sculptures planned for completion in 2026.
“The idea is to get people to visit all of the communities in Chatham-Kent to see these sculptures, visit the restaurants and shop in the stores,” Mayor Darrin Canniff told the audience.
Canniff said that after the final community sculpture is in place, a grand finale carving will be erected at a location to be announced.
Chatham-Kent Tourism will produce a brochure promoting a circuit for tourists to visit the sites of all the sculptures, each featuring a plaque with a description and a QR code.
Canniff invited Shrewsbury residents to decorate the sculpture for holiday seasons and community events.
South Kent Councillor Anthony Ceccacci, who was very involved in the Shrewsbury carving project, expressed his respect for the community’s residents.
“I’ve been on council for seven years, and the dedication and the passion I’ve seen in this Shrewsbury community has been absolutely enormous,” Ceccacci told the audience.
“Thank you for your continuous dedication, making the community such a vibrant place, and I hope this sculpture adds a little flair to all the wonderful events that you run here.”
Funding for the community carving project comes from the Councillor Ward Funding Program, through Hydro One’s $10-million investment in art, culture and recreation in Chatham-Kent, as part of the 10-year Community Support Agreement that began in 2022.
