Lucas Kost was born in 1995 in the rural town of Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba. Being raised in a family of musicians and artists fostered an early love for creative expression of various forms including music, drawing, painting and eventually wood carving. Lucas' grandfather Robert Kost, a renowned Manitoban landscape painter, was as an important inspiration and role model in Lucas' early life.

 

At the age of ten, Lucas received his first lesson in wood carving from a close family friend and artist, Marcel Desilets. These early lessons sparked a passion that has sustained to this day, as Lucas continues to develop his skill and passion as a full-time wood sculptor. In October of 2022, Lucas traveled to Monte Castello, Italy to complete a two-week long intensive masterclass with the renowned Italian sculptor Bruno Walpoth (pictured below). After completing this course, Lucas is one of very few sculptors in North America to have studied the traditional Italian methods of sculpting the human figure in wood from a live model.

 

Lucas' works range from wood spirits to large scale human figurative and wildlife sculptures. The wood spirits are carved in Cottonwood bark, which Lucas sustainably harvests from the banks of the Red & Assiniboine rivers. Many of these wall hanging pieces are inspired by the pagan legends of the Green Man and the tree spirits. Larger figurative sculptures are first roughed in with a chainsaw, then slowly refined by hand with a mallet and chisel. Lucas' work strives to create more than just a physical representation, but to imbue the piece with a distinct sense of life, personality, and an internal subjective state.