Product Description
It's Cactus Metal Art Haiti
Haiti Fair Trade Art, Breastfeeding Mermaid, One-of-a-Kind Vintage Beach Home Decor 72x18in.
The traditional Haitian method of creating metal sculptures from discarded oil drums has changed very little since the technique was first developed by Georges Liataud in the 1950's. To begin, the drums are burned out, cleaned up, sanded down and pounded flat. Next, the artist chalks his intended design onto the prepared metal and begins the heavy and tedious work of cutting and detailing, using only a hammer and chisel. Finally, the sculpture is sealed with a weather-proof finish, so that the sculpture may be displayed easily indoors or out.
Artist Bio
John Sylvestre
Tender, sensuous, ethereal figures characterize the work of John Sylvestre. The forms of his mermaids and angels are almost otherworldly, serenely defying the cold, hard steel from which they are made.
Seemingly, inspiration is everywhere. Under the sea, in the heavens, in the forests and fields of rural Haiti, in the mythology of the ancients, and in the most fantastic reaches of the mind, there is nowhere too far to stretch. Nothing is off-limits.
Maybe it’s because he’s been at it so long. Since 1968, at the age of 11 when he first picked up a hammer in the workshop of Janvier Louisjuste, John Sylvestre has been pushing the boundries of creative expression. But curiously, despite training with Louisjuste and later with Serge Jolimeau, he doubted his ability. There was a time when he thought it would be wiser to “buy an old truck and be a tap-tap driver.” And not have those dancing, soaring, floating, sailing images in steel? That would have been a shame.
