ِAngelic Holy Family – Hand Made Olive Wood

I was examining this raw piece of olive wood, completely aware it was cut from the troubled Holy Land. I was looking intently, wondering how one conflict may render beautiful trees dead. Thinking about how and where I found this peace helped me visualize the intricate artwork I was about to embark as if it was communicating with me. I decided to give life to this piece of wood, to make it speak meaningful words. Yes, there is so much beauty, love, care, and family-warmth coming out of this raw olive wood piece. I listened closely, and heard a mother’s voice humming a baby to sleep…looked with my Artist eye; that’s when I first saw a cradle position meant to hold a new born! The transition of this wooden piece into a meaningful piece of art occurred miraculously, with no prior realization. A passionate urge to communicate a family warmth to the chisels and mallets. They took out exactly the right amount of wood and did exactly what I wanted, one of the most satisfying feelings for an Artist. In addition to its sentimental significance, the Holy Family was formulated; sensationalized with the Holy conception. The free-from-original sin mother, and the soft-hearted Joseph admiring the cradling of baby Jesus with a lot of love. Despite the difficult circumstances of Mary’s pregnancy, danger that surrounded their story, their flee to Egypt, and the “no room” for Mary in Bethlehem to give birth, Holy protection over this small family was always there. The holy family is protected by an angel which somehow was already carved. I had not realized the power of protection this family had, until I realized that the back of the statue was imperfect. Looking closely, I merely had to carve a face to an angel that somehow was already naturally carved behind the family protecting them. I unintentionally kept the back of the piece in raw olive wood depicting this protection, aside from the fact that this Piece of wood was cut from the Holy Land, where the owners of the Olive trees’ land were under the same kind of danger when their land was destroyed by those who never felt the Peace of the Lord in their hearts. Click to watch the making-of video – Time lapse