Coconut wood sculpture: Stump to sheep

When an old, slanting coconut palm outside our eastern gate house was felled, the ugly stump, like the one in the picture, remained. Before the workers started removing it, my brother Jacob called Reji (A village artist) and asked whether he had any artistic ideas. This young man of 28 had been creating images on all kinds of medium. But coconut wood is a tough material to carve on. Even professional carpenters prefer not to work on it.

Reji looked at the stump for a minute and said, ‘There is a sheep inside it. If I take out the excess material, it will show.’ Jacob told him to go ahead. He worked for four days with borrowed tools and came out with what must surely be one of the finest and largest sculptures in coconut wood. See a photo of it by KO Isaac below:

The background screen is plaited fresh coconut fronds. Isn’t that too beautiful?

If you like this work, please do send an email to Reji. It would be a good encouragement to this young artist.

Artist Reji,

Navasree, Olavaippu, Kerala, India – 688 526

Phone 91 478 252 4152.

Email: rejinavasree@yahoo.com

Also see:

A village artist

A village artist

This 28 year old young man, Artist Navasree Reji, is a pride of my village, Olavipe. He studied up to school final and dropped out. He couldn’t concentrate on the curriculum because his mind is full of beautiful images and he has been transferring them on all kinds of vegetables, Thermocol (Styrofoam) (an exclusive technique that he developed), ice and other medium.

Recently he has turned to more difficult materials like coconut tree wood which is hard and difficult to carve.

Some of Reji's creations are presented below:

A young boy tests the cucumber teeth of a
bitter gourd crocodile

Gandhiji on soap bar

Reji at work

Major hotels, film producers and others come often to meet Reji. So does the media. He has been widely covered by both English and Malayalam newspapers and Television.

Reji's contact address is:

Artist Reji, Navasree, Olavaippu, Kerala, India - 688 526
Telephone: 91 478 2524152

Ends.

Photos provided by Navasree.

Also see:

OLAVIPE: Gift of the waves to Kerala, God's Own Country.