Eau Claire Artist Don Gaber created The Iron Hodag sculpture with metal pieces donated by Rhinelander area businesses and people.
“I just made kind of a skeleton first, and then I came back to Rhinelander several times and gathered parts from people,” said Gaber, explaining his process. “Then I go back and I combine them and I fit them and I see what works, what doesn't work. “It's kind of a long process because I want to make everything fit together.”
Dozens of unique metal pieces ranging from street signs and railroad spikes to broad head axes and bicycle rims are used to create The Iron Hodag.
With an old airplane flap that reveals a secret message and knob that rings the bell, Gaber wants people to interact with the piece.
“I've always done it where there's like little hidden gems in there,” said Gaber.
Gaber has made sculptures that have been features in Eau Claire and other cities, but this was the first time he was commissioned for an art piece like this.
“I've got sculptures in like six different cities, couple different states, and then the people there recognize them, and they'll either buy them for a business or for personal use,” said Gaber. “I've done a couple of commissions, but the first one I've actually done with the intent of satisfying the customer instead of myself.”
This Hodag sculpture was based on Eugene Shepard’s early iterations of the Hodag in the late 1800s, differentiating it from some of the more happier looking Hodags painted around downtown Rhinelander.
“The original one had little smaller eyes and kind of squarish teeth and kind of creepy looking. This is kind of based on that, with a little bit of the modern thrown in,” said Gaber.
Don Gaber was commissioned by Ron and Elsie Gaber, who were born and raised in Rhinelander and now live in Missouri.
“I graduated in 1967, just a few years ago, from the high school here,” said Ron Gaber. “I'm a Hodag, and once a Hodag, always a Hodag.”
Now, with the similar names you might assume they’re related—and you’d be right. Though the two didn’t know that until after Ron randomly came across Don’s artwork on Facebook and commissioned him to create a Hodag.
“We have just discovered each other. We met yesterday for the first time,” said Ron. “We met remotely on Zoom during the process of building this.”
“His dad was my grandfather's brother,” added Don.
It’s been a fun process for Don to connect with his family and revisit Rhinelander where his father grew up just a couple blocks away from where the statue sits.
Pieces of The Iron Hodag have ties to the city and his family, like the parts from a decommissioned machine from the papermill.
“It was built, I think, in the 40s. My grandfather worked there 45 years,” said Don Gaber. “The odds are some of the pieces from that machine he actually touched. He passed away in the 70s, so getting pieces that mean something to me and the community was important.”
ArtStart Community and Cultural Development Director Melinda Childs says the sculpture and the story behind it shows that everybody can be part of Rhinelander.
“I think that's one of my favorite things about Rhinelander is whether you're from here and you move away, or you're a transplant, or you have a cabin here, it kind of gets into your heart, and you want to do things to support it,” said Childs.
There is progress to create more public art in Rhinelander. Childs sees this sculpture as a jumping off point for more.
Ron Gaber, who has long appreciated the arts, is happy to be contributing to that effort.
“I've always had an appreciation for the arts, having gone through a liberal arts education. You appreciate diversity and change and different patterns,” said Ron Gaber. “It's just sort of been always built in me, and I like weird things. Art sometimes is weird, but it's so fun. Each person conceptualizes something a little bit differently, so it brings out the creativity in people as well.”
The Iron Hodag is his way to give back to the community he loves.
“I think they're going to be proud of it,” said Ron Gaber. “I'm really proud of it, and it brings pride to the city too.”
There is a scavenger hunt for The Iron Hodag to find all the different pieces it’s made up of. It’s available through the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce.
