About | Bearwoodcreations

Artist Bio

Robert “Bear” Royal is a Canadian artist, whose work invites viewers into a tactile dialogue with time, memory, and nature. Known for his striking reclaimed wood mosaics, collages, and sculptures, Royal creates pieces that are as emotionally resonant as they are visually compelling. Each work is a meditation on the passage of time—captured in the worn patinas and weathered textures of salvaged wood that cannot be replicated or fabricated.

Originally based on Canada’s West Coast, Royal spent two decades immersed in the world of furniture design. That experience honed his eye for balance, composition, and color—foundational elements that now inform his art practice. Since relocating to Ontario’s Niagara Region in 2009 and settling in Ridgeway, he has evolved into a full-time artist, with reclaimed wood becoming both his material of choice and his muse.

Royal’s work is deeply personal and emotionally grounded, exploring themes of aging, impermanence, and renewal. Yet it also speaks to a broader audience, offering collectors a timeless aesthetic rooted in authenticity, craftsmanship, and ecological awareness.

Over the past five years, Royal’s career has gained strong momentum, with more than 100 original works acquired by collectors across Canada, the United States, and Europe. His art has been featured in numerous successful exhibitions, including multiple solo shows at Mahtay Café, a juried exhibition at the Grimsby Public Art Gallery (2020), and a prize-winning appearance at the 2024 Crystal Beach Art Show. In early 2024, several pieces sold during an exhibition at the John Mann Gallery. Most recently, his work has been shown at the Niagara Falls Art Gallery, the NOTL Contemporary Art Gallery and the White Galleon Gallery (July 2025).

@bear.wood.creations

Artist Statement of Work

In personally seeking to make sense of life’s struggle and find meaning in its inherent suffering; I was forced to go beyond the purely intellectual and seek answers on its fringes where the utility of words breaks down.

My art provided a vehicle for me to explore those parts of myself that are beyond the reach of intellect alone. This found purpose is what I attempt to convey through my art - that there is meaning, and beauty to be found in the struggle and decay we see all around us. In fact it is the pain and struggle, the overcoming of obstacles that allows for the meaning and purpose in our existence.

My approach as an artist is not to "create" beauty, but rather to expose and highlight the beauty that already exists in the chosen medium as a representation of what I see around me. Nature is "imperfect", asymmetrical, this is why I am drawn to reclaimed wood as a medium- it seems to me the purest representation of what exists around me in nature. It is the truest form of "realism". If I look out over a landscape there is more decay than new growth visible in the scene. This is why starting with this "flawed" medium, I also place "imperfections" in my work to emphasize that death and decay are a defining characteristic of our reality, and not an aberration that detracts from the beauty of life. In fact they are essential elements of nature's beauty.

This tension between perfect/imperfect is different in every one of my pieces. There are no formulas. The interactions produced visually between the different media worked with demands a continual shifting on this front with sometimes greater, sometimes lesser manipulation required.

For me, choosing a theme to work is about trying to give insight into why we respond to a particular visual experience and expose what exactly makes for a “beautiful” or “moving” experience. The chosen subject will be one that facilitates this exploring and highlighting of the deeper elements which produce an emotional response. This primarily dictates what themes I explore in a given art series..

Aged and decaying wood is certainly not a traditional medium for artists. However, I find the colours and patinas of time and weathering make reclaimed wood a powerful conduit to express myself. I believe this medium aids in visually conveying deep truths of our existence. The flawed and decaying medium of reclaimed wood is the purest representation of what I see around me and therein lies the reason it produces such an emotional response. It connects me with my own mortality and the surprising beauty and meaning to be found in that.

I struggle to express the deeper levels of my emotion and experience. What I cannot express with words, I attempt to express in my art.