Life Lines
Oak sculpture by Jeroen Boersma in the Hertenkamp deer park, since 2021 the successor to the bronze statue De Vreugdedans, which was stolen in 2018.
Mayor Anno Wietze Hiemstra unveiled Life Lines on 28 June 2021 in the Hertenkamp deer park in Rolde. De Vreugdedans, the statue by Kees Verkade that stood there before, had disappeared from the Hertenkamp in July 2018. It was owned by the municipality of Aa en Hunze.
The board of Stichting Hertenkamp Rolde felt that something should take its place and asked Jeroen Boersma, a wood artist from the area. At the De Boerhoorn community centre an oak had to make way for the renovation: a pedunculate oak, also known as English oak. Boersma made the sculpture entirely from the wood of that tree, so that the tree stayed in the village in another form. He let the natural growth of the wood decide the lines of the sculpture.
The sculpture was paid for with fundraising and donations, including one from the Stichting Rossing-Koops. Boersma made several versions of Life Lines; the one in the Hertenkamp is number 4.
