LOCKPORT — ANGOLA VISITORS:
Artist from West African nation learns about chain saw art.
By Bill Wolcott
wolcottb@gnnewspaper.com
Antonio Tomas Ana, internationally known as Etona, visited the Market Street Art Center on Saturday to learn about chain saw sculpture.
Art Hilger of the Bear Market Studio gave a demonstration and handed his chain saw to the Angola artist. He barely got his sculpturing tool back about 90 minutes later.
“Give a man a chain saw and he’s off,” said Sally Bisher, the assistant executive director of Market Street Art. “Once you get an artist going, they’re in their own world.”
Etona visited Lockport with Patricio Batsikama of the western African nation and interpreter Louis V. Riggio of the State Department. Lockport was included in the tour, which included New York City, Washington, D.C. and Buffalo under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
Hilger started work on the eagle made of white pine and Etona caught on quickly. Hilger explained, “He used a chain saw before to rough out his work. He never used it for detail and that’s what he’s using it for today.”
The artists used sign language to communicate. Hilger has been in business for seven years and offers everything from bears to buccaneers in his Bear Mountain Studio.
“You give a man a chain saw and what happens?” Hilger asked rhetorically. “He has a lot of fun, whether he’s doing artwork or cutting logs.”
Etona, who paints and also works in stone, was leaming. “The important thing is when you are doing art, you are making your own children,” he said. “Those children take along an image of what they are and, even when we pass on, those images those images remain.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s a recreation. Each piece that I make I feel that I’m born again.”
Etonism hopes to bring tolerance through art. Angola is just getting its footing after a 25-year-old civil war. As of 2001, the United Nations estimated that battles between the government party, the MPLA, the popular movement of the liberation of Angola and UNITA, the National Movement for the Liberation of Angola, claimed 1 million lives.
The war ended in 2002.
Etonism is a philosophy of tolerant reason. The term comes from “etona,” which means flag. Etona and Batsikama are working for tolerance among the people of Angola, a former colony of Portugal which was cut out of the Congo.
What was the essence of the Angolan culture? Etona asked.
“Once the war ended he was able to understand and expand the idea of Etonism, not only to Angola, but to the entirety of Africa,” Batsikama said.
Contact reporter Bill Wolcott
at 439-9222, ext. 6246.
Local News
Related Photos
-
CUTTING TECHNIQUE: Chain saw artist Art Hilger of Bear Market Studio on Market Street, shows off his technique to fellow artist Antonio Tomas Ana, who is visiting the United States from Angola, Africa, as part of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
LOCKPORT: Art is critical for men of reason
- Local News
-
-
Paying Respect
- Sense of resignation escorts AES tax pact
- Town considering WNYLC's request
-
Palace, Hartland get Greenway funding
The Historic Palace Theatre and the Town of Hartland both were cleared Tuesday to receive Niagara River Greenway funding for improvement projects.
The eight-member Host Communities Standing Committee voted unanimously to approve funding requests of $151,000 for the Palace and $244,000 for Hartland, which is planning a multi-phase town park enhancement project.
-
Erie Canal photo contest underway
The seventh annual Erie Canalway photo contest is under way.
Entries are being accepted now through Sept. 7. Winning photos will be published in the 2013 Erie Canalway calendar.
-
Jobless totals drop slightly
Unemployment in the Lockport area decreased slightly last month, but it wasn't because more people are going back to work.
The New York State Department of Labor reported Tuesday about 1,000 city residents were without a job in April, the fifth straight month with over 1,000 unemployed. That was down from the 1,100 it reported in March, however, the number of employed stayed the same at about 9,700 people.
-
Fishing for 'Ultimate' perks
Olcott teaming up with Ontario town in running for Canadian equivalent.
-
Sprinkler work coming
Piping in high school fire sprinkler system will be addressed in July.
-
Willow Street victim identified
The victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Willow Street on Saturday was identified by Lockport Police as Richard Boye, 46.
-
Cutting the travel time
For the most part, there is a lot of planning that goes into traveling. Some like to handle the details on their own, making arrangements on the phone or using travel websites to book hotels, planes, vehicles and so on.
But lately, working with a travel agent is becoming more popular.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
