Pastor Bob’s bench

One more light touch up with 600 grit sandpaper and a final coat of oil and the bench sculpture, ‘Christ and His Followers on the Sea of Galilee’, will be finished. Whew. Six months of carving over a ten month period plus two more months of oiling.

Symbolically, Christ is the “heart” stone. Placed in the center it radiates out compassion, tolerance and love. Whether we are Christians or not, doesn’t matter. What does is that Christ’s teachings of the heart need to be brought back into practice in this age of fear driven politics.

The other 18 stones represent the “followers”, who are all of us. “Ye without sin cast the first stone” reminds us that we all have a shadow side and should therefore not rush into judgement. Instead, let us use our imperfect selves to build a world based on heart politics; where, instead of throwing stones at each other, we use these stones (ourselves) to build cathedrals of peace.

Technically, this has been the most difficult sculpture I have ever attempted because of the complex interactions between so many stones. To achieve a simple Zen like feel to the sculpture, as though the stones just happened to fall naturally into place, requires, not only an eye for a constant visual check on the carving, but fingers with “eyes” in order to feel the emerging form.

A steady awareness of what is unfolding and a quiet patience to allow it to unfold is needed throughout the whole process.

The “care of duty” entrusted to me with this 2000 year old piece of huon pine does not allow for even one inattentive moment during the six months of carving. The whole exercise is basically that of developing and maintaining a reverential relationship between the wood and stones and myself.

Each encapsulated stone emerged out of the wood as slow as a budding lemon blossom. Pushing their way into being, each nudged against their neighbour in a way that allowed the unique individualness of each stone to remain within the balanced integrity of the whole.

If this is beginning to sound too much like “art speak”, forgive me. I just want to try and articulate a little of what went into the making of this piece.

Art, to me, has a vital role to play in the healing of ourselves and the world. Through art we can gain a sense of our place in the world and a sense of our purpose. This purpose is aligned with service. We are all in the same boat: this earth. It behoves us to love it, to love ourselves and to love each other.