Down in the Woods began with a melody. It became a panda bear carrying a stag’s antlers on its back. I carved the sculpture from a trunk of catalpa wood.
Down in the Woods – a sculpture like an absurd nursery rhyme.
For decades, songs from the soundtrack of The Singing Detective have kept returning to my mind. It was this brilliant 1986 BBC television series that introduced me to The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, a song dating from 1907. Cheerful yet faintly unsettling, it tells of teddy bears secretly gathering deep in the woods for their annual picnic. It is both childlike and surreal. A good forest possesses exactly that combination of beauty and threatening dreams.
And so, hidden inside a catalpa tree (Indian bean tree), I discovered a panda bear. Dendroism! Somewhere along the way, the bear had found a stag’s antlers. Ever since, it has carried them on its back like a furry backpack, as if they might make it a little less cuddly. Or perhaps even more mysterious. It will wander the forest with them forever.
Down in the Woods, lyrics
So be warned. Just as the song warns:
If you go down in the woods today,
you’re sure of a big surprise.
If you go down in the woods today,
you better go in disguise.
Down in the Woods is a tribute to the sometimes incomprehensible logic of nursery rhymes, where nothing quite makes sense and nothing needs to be explained.
The logic of Nursery Rhymes
The moment the opening notes of The Teddy Bears’ Picnic begin, anything becomes possible. Even a panda emerging from between the trees with the dignity of a stag, on its way to a secret picnic.
Listen here to The Teddy Bears’ Picnic from The Singing Detective.
And watch all episodes of The Singing Detective here.
Down in the Woods
Height 26 cm × Width 40 cm × Depth 26 cm
Jan Bom
27 June 2026
