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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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| Gossip (notice the large ears) |