When Story Tellers Get Together
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| Candace Wolf |
DC-based story tellers Candace Wolf and Diane Macklin joined the DC Collaborative monthly teaching artist convening on Thursday, December 1, to share insights about their process, influences and experiences sharing their story-telling talents with students of all ages.
Candace conducted a group reading of the oral history of the Indian outsider artist Nek Chand. Candace traveled to India to interview Nek Chand who was a road inspector by day and a visionary sculptor by night creating what Candace called a parallel world, recreating the people, the animals, the terrain and mountains, moving rocks and transforming refuse such as bangles, teacups and bottles to recreate a semblance of his former home in Pakistan. Chand had a vision that he could create a glorious kingdom where he would see his birthplace again.
“Outsider artists are unique in their focus on a vision for their artwork that is often the result of some trauma that moves them to create against all odds,” said Candace, who worked with the Nek Chand Foudnation to be connected with the artist.
“I wanted to hear his story first hand; to let him tell his story in his own words,” she said.
Diane Macklin, another master story-teller observed, “Story-telling brings people closer no matter where they are from or where they are in the world. Story telling is the beginning of compassion and understanding.” Candace described how government officials came to bulldoze Nek Chand’s installation but were greeted by thousands of villagers holding hands, protecting the creation.
“It takes so many years to build something but no time to destroy it,” Nek Chand told Candace. “I see our work in schools like that," commented Diane. "We have to be willing to stand up and protect a safe harbor of imagination, art, creativity against heavy odds sometimes to nurture and protect creative endeavors when there is change, turnover, disruption or even chaos.
"Stories ground us – they remind us how to live together." She talked about a need for stories and the village: stories to teach and guide us plus the village as a supportive community meeting people's needs. "It’s really not our instinct to be in conflict – it is our instinct to be connected in a positive way as deeply social creatures,” said Diane. "Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every school had their own resident story-teller?" she asked.
More on Nek Chand and the Rock Garden
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| Monkeys in the Garden, Courtesy of the Nek Chand Foundation |
Candace shared photos and a book, as well as excerpts from her interviews with Nek Chand, an icon of New Chandigarh in Punjab, India. The secret rock garden became a forty-acre sculptural garden including people, monkeys, elephants, waterfalls and may other elements of spiritual and natural influence to create his vision of a divine Kingdom which he called Sukrani. His creation has grown to include several thousand creatures and figures and has become a protected site and symbol of India.
Excerpts from Candace's interviews were a powerful revelation of the struggles that Nek Chand and his people faced throughout the time of partition of British India. It was a tumultuous time in India's war-torn history when millions of people fled from India and millions more were killed. When he began the garden, Chandigarh was being redesigned as the first planned city in India, New Chandigarh, by Le Corbusier, a Swiss/French architect. The rock garden is now revered as one of the greatest artistic creations in India since the Taj Mahal in Agra, Rajasthan.
For more information on the artist and visionary, Nek Chand, visit the website for his Foundation.
To reach Candace Wolf, you can contact her by email at Teller1949@aol.com, or by phone at 301-270-5909.
To reach Candace Wolf, you can contact her by email at Teller1949@aol.com, or by phone at 301-270-5909.
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| Standing figures, Courtesy of the Nek Chand Foundation |
