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| House Shrine | House Guardian | Czeslaw and another House Guardian |
Czeslaw Olma
| Czeslaw (pronounced "Ches'waf") Olma is a talented self-taught wood carver who lives on the outskirts of the southern Polish city of Bielsko-Biala. A beautiful shrine and three over life-sized carved wooden sculptures guard his house. As you walk inside, you are met by a multitude of colorful Madonnas, saints, devils, and village people. Although Czeslaw is inspired by religious subjects, he is also moved to carve pieces about social issues. His most unusual sculptures deal with the problems caused by air and water pollution, deforestation, corruption, greed, and gossip. Czeslaw enjoys carving both hard and soft woods, including oak, birch, linden, and spruce. Each sculpture is signed and numbered and can be found in hundreds of collections in Europe and America. |
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| House Shrine | House Guardian | Czeslaw and another House Guardian |
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| Deforestation The first generation plants the trees, the second generation nurtures the trees, then the third generation, featured here, cuts them all down. |
Water Pollution (notice the webbed feet and strange large fish) | Retirement |
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For more information, see "Polish Carving: Where
Ideas Take Form," in Wood Carving, March/April 2001:56-59. To
contact Czeslaw, you may write or speak to him
(in Polish or Russian) at: ul. Janowicka 219 43 344 Bielsko-Biala Poland Telephone: 011 48 603 547 993 |
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| Gossip (notice the large ears) |
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LINKS: Polish Wood Carver, Jan Piotr Ledwon Polish Icon Maker, Dr. Miroslaw Mrozowski Silva Foundation Workshops in Lisbon, Portugal Marquetry of Granada, Spain Religious sculpture in Seville, Spain Haida wood carver, Reg Davidson Haida painter, James Sawyer Mexican wood carver, Fernando Giron Pantoja Mexican marquetry box maker, José Antonio Rodríguez Wood carving in Foumban, Cameroon, Africa Ga Coffins in Teshie, Ghana Wood Carving in Bali, Indonesia Horn Carving in Bali, Indonesia Carol Ventura's Home Page |
| Web page, photographs, and text by Carol Ventura. |