Photo/DAN PELTON PAVEL CHAROUSEK AND VERA SIFFNER are looking for studio space after massive winds destroyed their barn/studio on Highway 109 on Saturday. Pavel Charousek and Vera Siffner have felt the winds of change in Orangeville — literally.

Mr. Charousek, an artisan and sculptor who emigrated to Canada from the Czech Republic in 2002, was working in his barn/studio Saturday when gale-force winds came out of nowhere and ripped the structure to shreds.

Mr. Charousek and Ms. Siffner, who is also an artist, live on Highway 109 just west of County Road 11.

"My wife (Ms. Siffner) and daughter were going to town and asked me if I wanted to come along," recalls Mr. Charousek. "I decided to stay and work in the barn. It was a beautiful morning; the first amazing day of the year where there wasn't any cold."

Shortly after 4 p.m., he noticed it had begun to rain but gave it no mind. "Then all of the sudden, the barn started to shake. I looked up and saw the roof was starting to blow off."

Mr. Charousek was halfway out the door when the walls of the structure exploded around him.

The roof, which he estimated weighed between four and five tons, was later found more than 200 metres away.

He was helpless to do anything but run to his house, flip the breaker to cut the electricity to the barn, and phone Wayne Hawthorne, his partner in an ornamental ironworking business.

Mr. Hawthorne, who lives near Waldemar, was experiencing the same conditions. "The whole house was shaking. It was pretty bad. Then Pavel calls me and tells me his barn has blown down."

Unfortunately, the destroyed structure was not insured. "We're looking for a solution," sums up Ms. Siffner. "We have to find a new place to work."

Fortunately, the couple lives in a town that has proven over and over again that it rallies to neighbours in distress. The very next day, friends arrived to help clean up the mess, and Mr. Charousek has already been offered space to set up a sculpting studio.

The couple is the embodiment of the Canadian artist. They face a shortage of work but possess an overabundance of perseverance. Ms. Siffner has a fine arts degree from Concordia University in Montreal and Mr. Charousek is a phenomenal talent who works in practically every artistic media imaginable.

When he lived in the Czech Republic, he was a sculptor who also restored old estates, churches and castles to their former glory. He decided to come to Canada for a number of reasons.

"Number one, I was not very lucky with my first marriage. Number two, I was very disappointed with the political situation. The communists were still there (and in control) and the supposed changes taking place were all lies."

By leaving his home country Mr. Charousek sacrificed a relatively comfortable lifestyle. In fact, much of his work was purchased by the state for its national collection.

Still, he comes across as a time that thrives on adversity.

An example of this is when he was working in Germany alongside a German sculptor who had access to the finest raw materials.

All Mr. Charousek could muster was three sandstone steps from a demolished church which had been coated, over a number of years, with cement and concrete. When his German counterpart scoffed that it would be impossible for him to work with such old and brittle stuff, Mr. Charousek didn't get demoralized. He got mad.

What he produced was a beautiful sarcophagus-like sculpture which effectively captured the soul of the woman who had tended those same church steps for years.

He is also accomplished in tapestry, fabrics and stained glass, as well as ornamental iron fences and hand rails. Ms. Siffner does, however, point out a failing of this Renaissance man.

"He can't cook," she says.

"Hey," he protests. "If I have to, I can make scrambled eggs."