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The tools were a mix of, what were to me, recognisable chisels through to more traditional adze and homemade mallets honed from hard apricot wood or other off-cuts of ebony. The talent and experience of my Tanzanian peers shone through. With animals appearing with seeming ease and speed from these previously inanimate blocks of wood.
Obviously the “animal experience” couldn’t be more different from the squirrels and dogs I generally encounter in Battersea Park! But it obviously struck me that my personal experience of being a sculptor couldn’t be more different either. Producing handmade individual pieces at a regular pace in order to fulfil a constant demand, very different from my own version of “busy” stemming much more from constant trial and error and a hopeful sale at the end!
It's what makes the joy of any kind of travel so wonderful. The sharing of experiences; an understanding that the same can be different, not wrong or right, just different. And of course, the realisation that art and sculpture wherever it is done in the world brings a smile to the face of artists and buyers alike!