Mr. Fire-Man's workshop

The sweetgum trees and spray park at Strathcona’s MacLean Park are regular hosts to playing children and family picnics. Nestled at the fringes of the park, is a former caretaker's suite that is surrounded by overgrown bushes. Within these unassuming walls, you might find a peculiar man who has transformed the cabin into an art space.

David Gowman a.k.a. Mr. Fire-Man has been wood-crafting, making instruments, and creating art for the past eight years in the cabin that he has named, ONCLE HÖONKI'S FABULOUS HORNSHOP.

Gowman, now 56, moved to Vancouver from Ontario in 1995 to be an artist. Almost 30 years later, he is definitely living that dream.

After drawing caricatures on Robson Street, and painting for a few years in Vancouver, he realized that he was getting bored with 2-dimensional art.

“I was just dissatisfied. So, I moved to Robert’s Creek on the Sunshine Coast.”

In 2002, while being a part of a drum circle in Robert’s Creek, Gowman made his first horn, with the branch of an Elderberry that was previously a walking stick.

“When I took the horn to the drum circle. I was no longer an invisible drummer in the background beating on a KFC bucket. I was a guy with a horn, leading the show. It was really cool.”

Since the first horn made in Robert’s Creek, Gowman has made about a hundred instruments, mostly using the wood of the Empress Tree.

He calls the horns that he creates: Fu-horns.

“It is a philosophy. ‘Fu’ in Chinese means either ‘man-made’ or a suffix to evoke ‘intensity.’ It is the perfect name for my horns.”

Gowman names the Swiss Alphorns as one of his inspirations for his horns.

“When I was teenager, the Alphorns were fascinating to me. I wanted to make one of these horns but I lacked the ability.”

“I was always in the back of my head that someday, I am going to make a horn. I have made a few now,” says Gowman jokingly.

Mr. Fire-Man makes these instruments by woodworking and carving using various tools such as bent knives & carving knives.

At ONCLE HÖONKI'S FABULOUS HORNSHOP, Gowman offers several lessons and services.

“People who come here can learn very traditional west coast style carving with bent knives, instrument building with wood, and painting. We also have a lot of music practice that happens here, be it instrumental or vocal.”

“If someone is interested in learning anything that I teach, I do 2-hour sessions, and it is 25 dollars an hour.”

A guitar headstock carved by Gowman, made of Cherry.

Gowman does not look for a mass production or sale for his instruments where he is moving them quickly. He considers each instrument as an experiment into a niche that he has not explored yet, to find if there are sounds that he can use.

“The chase for money is the difference between the art world and the rest of the world. My understanding is that you are supposed to go where your desire leads you and not worry about the money.”

Here I am, pursuing sound machines in hopes of finding new worlds. I promise you, I have found new worlds many, many times. There have been ecstatic experiences in great number.”

“The point of making these instruments is not to sell them, it is to sell entertainment.”

Gowman playing a guitar-like instrument, made using a tin of oil.

In 2008, Mr. Fire-Man, along with his friends, created the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra and found a way to sell entertainment through his instruments.

Legion of Flying Monkeys consists of David Gowman, Jamie MacDonald, Dennis Tokarsky, Elaine Joe, and The Mythical Man.

“The Orchestra came out of my desire to be more performative in my art craft.”

Gowman holding the logo that he designed his orchestra, inspired by KFC, where he would make adverts in his early career.

Gowman, who lives only a kilometre away from his workshop in MacLean Park, considers the park as the ‘heart’ of his favourite neighbourhood, Strathcona.

“Children come and play here, families often picnic. It is very human. It is personable and connected.”

On any given day, you might find Gowman on a bench at the park, playing one of his crazy Fu- horns.

Mr. Fire-Man says that his end goal used to be to make an album, something that he fulfilled with the Legions of Flying Monkeys. He also mentions that if he were to die now, he would feel content.

“If I was stuck in a cubicle in Etobicoke, making adverts for KFC, I would want to escape that. But now, I am an artist and an interactive entertainer. I did it!”