Five artists are creating sculptures in the Prostějov park

Prostějov - Right under the open sky in Smetanovy Sady in Prostějov, artistic works are being created these days by the hands of carvers and sculptors. Five artists from the Czech Republic, Israel, Spain, Germany, and Turkey are participating in the sixth year of the international sculptural symposium Hana Wichterlová. Their creations will adorn the exteriors of Prostějov. The aim of the traditional event is to create a gallery of contemporary modern sculpture in wood, said festival director Miroslav Švancara today.
For the first time at the event, Jan Zemánek from Nový Jičín arrived. "I attend symposiums and I think it is one of those sources of knowledge," said the artist. He is creating a work titled Leaf. "I come from northern Moravia and I chose a symbol of the local nature, a fern leaf. Ferns as fateful plants, which are black underground and still green above ground," the author explained.
According to Švancara, this year's symposium relates to the 100th anniversary of the Art Nouveau National House. It is precisely near it that the artists are working. The works could be a celebration of it, but the artists chose themes entirely at their discretion. The finished creations will be presented to the public in full glory at the Saturday vernissage.
Chisels and chainsaws are shaping oak and ash pieces of wood. The trees, from which they come, were prepared by the organizers in winter. "We had to find them in nature and fell them in winter. Then the wood was drying, but not completely," Švancara described the preparations. The selection of suitable trunks is said to be not simple at all. It depends not only on the size of the tree and the width of the trunk but also on the site where it grows. "It is best when the tree grows for a long time and in demanding conditions. Then the growth rings are dense, the wood is strong and more resilient. The tree must also appeal to us," said the director. For example, the oaks come from the area around Troubek nad Bečvou in the Přerov region.
The sculptural symposium took place in Prostějov for the first time in 2002. Participants of past years have created over 30 sculptures for the city, which can be seen in various places in Prostějov.
The gathering of sculptors in Prostějov has officially been called the International Symposium of Hana Wichterlová since 2004. Wichterlová, who was born in 1903 in Prostějov, is one of the most significant representatives of Czech sculpture from the interwar avant-garde period. She passed away in 1990.