My 40 years of creating wood carvings in southern Africa have connected me to many other wood carvers, mostly in indigenous communities in Botswana. Working together in a workshop atmosphere with old hard wood roots and fallen limbs of trees has inspired the creation of many beautiful and environment related sculptures by the carvers.
Image descriptions: The artists are choosing their root pieces and a display of the sculptures created from those roots by the San carvers at the Wood Sculpture Workshop in Kang, Botswana in December 2021.
After having moved to New Brunswick in Canada in 2025, I found old Eastern White Cedar roots. Their natural shapes are a testimony of the history of the trees, that the carver can tune into and express the coming together of artistic intent and the rich forms created by nature.
My passion and commitment is to carry on working with members of indigenous communities in New Brunswick to fuel the love for wood sculpture, if this form of art can be complimentary to the indigenous artistic culture?
Image descriptions: The old root piece and the sculpture I created from this Eastern White Cedar root, found on Deer Island, on the Bay of Fundy, titled “Waiting for Rain”