Samuel Waldron
IMMORTALITY IN ART
POINT FORTIN
SCULPTOR CAPTURES HEROES IN CEMENT AND STEEL
By Afiya Butler
Express
April 26, 2000
Page 27
He's moulded the identity of South Trinidad, yet few people know he's
alive.
One
of his sculptures, "The Pan Man", stands on the corner of Cipero and
Coffee Streets, San Fernando; another, Marcus Garvey, standing with hands
almost outstretched, on Harris Promenade, San Fernando; and then there are the
statues of Tubal Uriah Butler on his tomb in Fyzabad, Fyzabad Junction and in
Butler Park, Point Fortin.
They
all came from this 81-year-old sculptor.
His
name is Samuel Waldron, known to residents of Point Fortin as "Uncle
Boy", and he has created a museum of his own.
Art
is his life.
And
it shows, for he has managed to capture immortality.
Waldron
brings characters to life using cement and steel, adding each new piece to a
priceless collection, which has already overgrown his home.
In
his yard one can see sculptures of he deceased Lord Kitchener singing, guitar
in hand; the Mighty Sparrow dressed in a grey suit, a microphone in hand; and
the deceased parang legend Daisy Voisin.
Hasely
Crawford, John Donaldson and even Brian Lara have joined the ranks of
Trinidadian legends keeping the company of the sculptor addicted to his art.
But
these are not all.
Waldron
insists that his work must be balanced.
To
achieve this he creates sculptures not only of the famous but also of the
mundane.
In
his yard, there's a striptease dancer standing near to two mating dogs. Not far from these are African drummers,
stick fighters and images representing Hindu culture.
Waldron
is currently working on a sculpture representing Trinidadian folklore. This is expected to depict Papa Bois, Mama
Glo (matron of the forest) and the Hunter.
"I
did one of the soucouyant in flight too," he said. "But someone came and bought that one
and took it away."
Nevertheless,
sales are slow, too slow, and Waldron has just about run out of space. Despite this, the self-taught artist, who
started sculpting mud figurines at age ten, works on.
Experience
was his sole teacher for years. When he
got bored with clay, he graduated to the only medium he could have afforded:
cement. To ensure its permanence he
incorporated steel.
"My
brain has to be active," Waldron said.
"I always have to do something.
My eyesight gone, I am almost down to zero…but I am still holding
on."
He
does it all for one reason.
"Seeing
the thing that you desire coming from nowhere and you bringing it up will
always keep you near to it," he said.
"It keeps me company all the time."
Still,
he feels neglected by the society he's created these monuments for. Even the sculptures are showing signs of the
neglect.
Moss
gathers on Kitchener's arms and the head of one of the Hindu deities has fallen
off.
"Millions
of dollars worth of art here," Waldron said. "And still the fellow stranded. He cannot even get to go to the circus. How I would go?"
Waldron's
pieces are part of a museum he can't maintain.
"Where
would I display all this art?" he asked, pointing to a sculpture of Brian
Lara. "This fellow here breaking
down the floor in my house."
Waldron,
who will not be displaying his pieces on Borough Day, when tourists from all
over the world visit, said that he made the statue of Lara when the PNM
administration began construction of the Brian Lara Promenade.
"I
thought that it (the promenade) would say something about the man himself. But nobody wanted my statue of him. Nobody came and asked even though I was
always here," he said.
Waldron's
masterpiece, the "Singing Caribbean Man", sings with lighted arms and
moving lips to no one.
The
sculpture is of a short man with a small body, which Waldron says represents
the Caribbean islands.
"They
are all part of a small chain linking North and South America," said the artist
whose memory, despite his age, is very sharp.
"They are small sot he body is small. But the head represents the intellect of the people of the
Caribbean so I made that big."
This
is no ordinary sculpture.
The
Caribbean Man is animated and when the motor in his head is turned on, his eyes
are lighted as is his mouth, which opens and closes. His head shakes from side to side and his hands are moving - both
in time to voices singing the hymn "Victory through the Blood."
"The
art is rare," Waldron said.
Like
the man who keeps on sculpting even when there's no more space.