Wooden statues Medusa and monks - Putten

A huge stump of a fallen Douglas fir full of woody tree roots carefully transformed by woodworkers into a head full of writhing snakes. It is a representation of the monstrous Medusa from Greek mythology, whose hair had turned into all snakes. Moreover, she was said to have the power to petrify people with her eyes. The huge and impressive carving may not be art with a big K, but cycling past it in the middle of the forest, you keep looking at it for a moment, as if petrified.

A little further along the cycle path are three cute wooden statues of monks. They have mischievous faces and are inebriated. One is holding a beer mug, the other a bottle. Once upon a time, there would have been a monastery nearby in the Middle Ages, but the monks did not live piously at all. According to legend, the monastery disappeared into a big hole one Christmas night.

The sculptures were made by Putten woodworkers and 'leisure artists' Theo Borger and André van Beek. Theo Borger (Hellendoorn, 1958) makes stone sculptures in his workshop in Putten and wooden sculptures on the Schovenhorst estate. André van Beek (Putten, 1956) makes paintings, as well as hobby wood and ice sculptures.
For the wooden monks, visual artist Jan Mastenbroek (Amersfoort, 1971) also helped out. Among other things, he also makes large murals, ice sculptures and especially wood sculptures.