At
the age of 9, Cheddie Richardson developed a love for making
things out of wood. First he made boats out of matchsticks,
then began sculpting original works from driftwood.
Even
though he's been carving wood objects for almost a quarter
of a century, he says it still takes considerable time, days
even, to decide what to fashion out of each new piece of
wood.
Cheddie
needs the time for careful deliberation before starting to
work because he uses primarily driftwood and buttonwood mangrove,
so each piece truly is unique, different.
"A
piece of wood is a being in its own right," Cheddie
explains. "I have to study it to find out what it's going to
be. I try to create from shapes that are
already there. I bring them out more so everyone can see them."
He
concentrates on fashioning nature-oriented subjects that
a typical visitor to Anguilla will see, such as a fish,
a pelican, or a dolphin.
Still,
when the shape of the wood is just right, he sometimes will
switch to a more fanciful theme, particularly mermaids.
In fact one of his favorite carvings and one he has kept for his own private
collection is a large driftwood mermaid.
"It
was a very interesting piece of wood. It split at one
end to form trailing hair, as if it was in motion."
Like
all of his carvings, this one required a tremendous amount of time:
almost 2 months. Although this particular piece is not for sale,
Cheddie does have other mermaids available when he's found
the right piece of wood.
Even
his very popular small mahogany dolphin
take almost two full 8-hour days to complete.
Since
1992 Cheddie has been selling from his studio and gallery,
which he "built from scratch," into the style of a two-story
West Indies Villa with lots of "bright colors to
catch your eye."
The sales
desk inside the gallery is just as attention-grabbing, the
bow of a sailboat with both sail and mast, which Cheddie
also made.
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