Theatre Poster

 Carving Passion

Miami News Record

Miami, OK

By: Jessica Graham jessica.graham@maiminewsrecord.com | Posted: Thursday, June 26, 2014

MIAMI — Coleman Theater books bus tours to see Haitian wood sculptor.

Marika Bordes, from Seguin, Texas, brought 14 of her artistic wood carving pieces, which have been displayed in the grand ballroom on the top floor of the Coleman theater all week.

“It is an honor to have my art displayed in Miami,” Bordes said. “I am very happy to be here.”

Managing Director Darcie Shultz said when looking for artists to bring to Miami, Bordes stood out among the others.

Shultz said the Mid-America Arts Alliance website directed her to five state agencies which had rosters of artists who had been selected to represent their state for touring. The alliance provides grant support for programs like this one.

“So I went to the Texas Arts Council website and I went through almost every single artist in every genre and Marika just stood out to me,” Shultz said. “I thought, ‘this is really interesting.’”

She said she felt the walk-through gallery — displaying Bordes’ art — would add to the experience of the daily tours.

“I am excited to be here (at the Coleman Theater),” Marley Kuckhahn from Minnesota said. “The art is beautiful work.”

The Coleman Theater was one of the stops for a bus tour from Minnesota on its way to a mission convention in Dallas.

Bordes was born in Haiti and raised in Montreal, Canada. She said 17-years ago she met her mentor Francois Sanon, a Haitian artist, who works in the Afro-Caribbean tradition. Sanon, she said, helped her realize she had talent.

“My mentor saw it (talent) and I did not see it myself,” Bordes said. “You know when someone tells you that you are talented you don’t believe it.”

She said she gets her inspiration from daily living. One particular piece called “Carousel of Woman” represents the life of woman. She explained the piece in detail of how she carved each woman on a raft.

“The piece begins from youth and how the girl is thinking about her dresses,” Bordes said. “Then she jumps to motherhood where her world is devoted to kids and after one point in life some goes to religion and they cling to an icon, which is why I put the Virgin Mary.

“And at one point in our life there is this woman who is holding to the raft because she does not believe in anything in the world anymore. Maybe she has disappointment with kids, maybe religion but she is just holding to life without no faith at all. And then all of a sudden you have the smallest one (woman), she’s holding to nothing. It’s wisdom at that point.”

Bordes said every single piece she carves has a story. She described the feelings she had while carving “The Beggar.”

“In 2010 when my country went through that earthquake, I realized from day one to day two that a lot of people become beggar, so I started with that idea and what it did to me deeply to understand what beggar is, is the conversation I had with her (The Beggar),” Bordes said. “I tried to see the humiliation but I also try to see the hope.”

Bordes said she always uses woman as her subjects in her art work because woman are the “seed keepers and they direct the world.

The Coleman Theater hosted Bordes’ last viewing on Thursday but her sculptors can be seen on her website at https://marikasculptures.com/

Coleman Theatre Marquee