Bahamian Artwork Takes Its Place In World Sculpture Park

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Bahamian Artwork Takes Its Place In World Sculpture Park

Published：2013-07-23

Mr. Phillip A. Miller, Head of Mission at the Embassy of The Bahamas in Beijing, was invited to take part in the Unveiling Ceremony of the 8th Changchun Sculpture Symposium on September 3rd 2006, where well-known Bahamian artist, Antonius Roberts, was one of 41 Internationally renowned artists participating. The Symposium, which was held in the Changchun World Sculpture Park from July 23rd to September 3rd, was sponsored by Changchun's People's Municipal Government, The China Artists Association, The National Urban Sculpture Committee and The China Sculpture Academic Association. The Symposium aims to introduce the City of Changchun and its people to the world as well as to promote international and cultural exchanges between China and the nations represented, through the work of the visiting artists.
	Roberts(left) and Miller (right) in front of Roberts' sculpture.

	Roberts delivering welcome address.

Mr. Roberts, and the other sculptors were invited to spend 40 days in Changchun, where they were allowed to produce one individual piece to be added to the existing sculptures already on display at the 92-hectare park. Changchun's Sculpture Symposium is said to be "One of the most influential sculpture symposiums in the world." The park itself is the world's largest sculpture park in terms of scale, the number of participating artists and the number of countries represented. In addition, the park boasts a 12,600 square meter sculpture art center, which currently holds more than 700 individual sculptures.

The Sculpture Symposium, which was held under the recurring theme, "Friendship, Peace and Spring", was first launched on August 1st 1997 with a total of 23 participating artists, of whom 13 were from foreign countries. This year, there was a total of 46 participating sculptors. Their efforts resulted in the inclusion of 49 new works. Among the countries that were represented, seven were from the Caribbean region. They were, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Haiti, The Bahamas and Virgin Islands. A few of the other foreign countries that were represented were Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, France, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Mozambique, Serbia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

With this year's inclusions, the park area now boasts a total of 390 sculptures done by 345 individual artists from 172 countries. Crafted from materials such as bronze (various forms), marble, granite, wood, stainless steel and iron, the sculptures depict the similarities and differences between western and eastern cultures of the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Mr. Robert's work, a bronze piece, is titled "Re-Birth".

During their stay in China, the artists were introduced to different aspects of Chinese culture, namely, shadowboxing (Taiji), Chinese calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, acrobatics, folk lore and customs. It is rumored that Mr. Roberts also enjoyed daily early-morning Tai Chi exercises along with fellow artists Jean Claude Montes of Haiti, in addition to the aforementioned Chinese practices.

There is no doubt that Mr. Roberts' participation at this year's Symposium has the potential to deepen the level of cultural diplomacy between t