Product Description
It's Cactus- Haitian Metal Art
Tree of Life with Bird on Trunk, Handcrafted Wall Hanging Metal Artwork, Indoor Outdoor Display 23" With branches reaching skyward and roots spreading out into the earth below, the Celtic Tree of Life symbolizes the Druid belief in the link between heaven and earth.
This piece is hand-cut from a recycled 50-gallon steel drum. To begin, laborers remove the ends of the drum and place them inside the remaining cylinder along with scrap paper, dried banana or sugar cane leaves. Igniting the contents removes all paint and residue. When cooled, the drum is cut down the side and flattened out to create a "metal canvas" of approximately 3' x 6'. From there, the artist takes over, chalking his intended design on the prepared metal. Using hammer and chisel, he cuts the form and with other simple tools, pounds out intricate decorative patterns. The finished piece is weather-coated so that it may be displayed indoors or out.
Artist Bio
Norvh St. Bonheur
Fleeing northern Haiti and an outbreak of disease that threatened the children of Port-Margot, Norvh Saint Bonheur moved with his family to Croix-des-Bouquets in 1993 at the age of three. In 1998, his parents returned to Port-Margot, but even then, the family knew that their 3 boys would have better opportunity for education and work in Croix-des-Bouquets than they would up country. Thus, Norvh and his brothers stayed. By the time he was nine, little Norvh was flattening out steel drums in the shop of his neighbor, Pierre Jocelyn.
Later on, Norvh realized that he needed more training to grow in the art of metal sculpture. He joined the shop of Julio Balan, where he learned techniques of drawing and design. Though his first piece of his own design was an angel, the tree of life has come to be Norvh’s favorite, “because it gives fruit to eat. It does give us life.” Now in their 30s, Norvh and his brothers have their own shop. When they can, they send extra money back to their mother and father in Port-Margot. Their parents are deeply appreciative, despite their mother’s often expressed worry that, “You boys are going to break your fingers with those hammers!”
