ABOUT THE ARTIST

Wilmer Roballo is from Venezuela, where he had a career in the Venezuelan Air Force as a helicopter pilot and eventually retired as a colonel. He came to the U.S. in 2018. He met Susanna Ojakangas and after a year together, they moved to her beloved hometown of Duluth in 2019.
Quite A Career Change!
In May of 2020, just as the pandemic was starting, Wilmer was missing the beaches in his native country of Venezuela. Susanna (who is now his wife) said “We have a beach… go get your coat!” and brought him to walk on Minnesota Point (Park Point Beach) in Duluth, Minnesota. Roballo noticed a single piece of driftwood lying in the sand that looked to him to be a woman’s upstretched arms. Inspired by his find, he found her legs and finally her head.
Back at their apartment, he put them together using the kitchen bread knife and an old bottle of wood glue. What resulted was his very first sculpture, which he named The Lady of the Lake (see picture). Everyone who saw her thought she was beautiful. Encouraged, Roballo kept returning to the beach to see what else he could find and continued to create more unique sculptures as the pandemic raged on.

The Wood Speaks

Inspired by the natural shape of the driftwood, Roballo does very little carving, instead finding pieces that fit into each sculpture naturally. He says that he gets his ideas from the wood. Since the wood “tells him what it wants to be,” and he has no formal training in art, Roballo had difficulty taking credit for his ideas and believing that he was truly an artist.

In 2020, Ojakangas and Roballo bought a house with a little workshop and a garage in which he could work. Roballo continued to do his art, placing the biggest pieces in the garden, where they are enjoyed by those walking and driving by. The couple married in 2021.

Duluth Driftwood Art Gallery

In 2022, they opened a home gallery that could share all of his pieces, big and small, with the public. The Duluth Driftwood Art Gallery is open by appointment. To schedule a tour, call Susanna at 651-983-9100.

“Hector” The Greysolon Buck

Roballo and Ojakangas with Hector The Greysolon Buck. Click below to read the story about him!

Hector

Wilmer burns his signature last name “Roballo” onto every piece. Susanna believes wholeheartedly that someday he will be a famous artist so that when people see his signature on a piece they will exclaim “WOW! Is that an ORIGINAL “Roballo” ?!!”