2013 World Wood Day

Daily News in Botswana

Gosego Motlogelwa, the sculptor, has returned from Tanzania where he explored the art world and exchanged ideas and experience with other artists.
Gosego attended a three-day International World Wood Symposium, which was held in conjunction with the commemoration of International Day of Forests from March 19 to 21.
The world wood symposium encouraged the exchange of ideas and experiences on the wood research, strategy and practice in the cultural, historical and social context.
In an interview, Gosego said the world wood symposium was an eye-opener as he was now able to look beyond the horizon in his carving profession.
“I have actually learnt wood carving from a different perspective, learnt speed techniques and I am now able to carve a structure in a shorter time than I used to”, he said.
He said he had learnt wood carving using the atonomy technique, which he said enabled one to improve his work and make it more appealing.
Not only did he learn new techniques in wood carving but also had time to network, adding that he had the opportunity to meet his icon, Phillip Moroder-Dos, an international seller of wood work from Italy.
“Meeting Phillip was like a dream come true, and he indeed inspired me”, he said.
He said Phillip was one wood carver who would carve a human being structure and make it real instead of an abstract, “and after meeting him, I am inspired to move in the same direction”, he said.
Gosego said though he did not win any award from the symposium, he gained international exposure and experience that he would share with other upcoming artists.
He thanked the Thapong Visual Arts Centre for nurturing talent especially among the youthful and upcoming artists who still had a future ahead in the arts industry.
Gosego urged people to make it a habit to visit the art galleries to refresh their minds and release tension.
Thapong Visual Arts Centre Coordinator, Reginald Bakwena said Gosego was one of the young artists whom Thapong grooms through nurturing their talents.
Bakwena said Thapong’s vision was to see more young Batswana artists getting exposure in the international world in order to develop a strong networking system.
He said through their international exposure, more artists would even learn the professional practice of presenting their art work to the customers over the world.
Bakwena said through the little opportunities they get, they expose the

artists to the international world. However, he was hopeful that more opportunities of this kind would come in order to take more young and upcoming artists on board.
However, Bakwena said he continuously work with the Department of Arts and Culture to develop the arts industry in the country and give young artists international exposure.

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