Art in stone is prehistoric. Since the beginning of time man has used vision and his hands to shape and create. Early statues were from natural things and the most common object was of course stone.
Fast forward to modern times (last month in April), the Israeli coastal city of Hadera joined other famous cities of the world to host an international festival for making stone sculptures. Nahal Hadera Park was chosen as the site of the project where 10 international and local contestants were chosen from 38 stone artists, who hailed from countries such as Italy, Armenia and Estonia.
The theme decided on was sea and sustainability. The relevant theme is strongly connected to Hadera’s geographic location by the Mediterranean Sea. The festival lasted for three weeks and the public was invited to watch and take part in variety of workshops.
The artists brought their passion and skills to start creating their sculptures. Each artist was provided with a giant rock weighing several tons and got to work on realizing their visions in the stone creations.
Since you cannot expect that the stone will be flexible, it is interesting to see the changing directions and flexibility of the artist, as he works through the different characters of the rock’s hardness, layers and colors, and adjusts his way of considering his ideas with what the stone allows.
Even after three weeks of sculpting, the artists are still busy with smoothing and improving up until the deadline when they reveal their masterpieces in the final ceremony in front of an audience of all ages. The giant sculptures will be spread out to decorate the various squares on the streets of Hadera. For years to come, the citizens and visitors who drive through the city will be able to marvel at the art in stone.