To attend worship at Kadavul Hindu Temple make a reservation here
FRONT GROUNDS ARE OPEN DAILY FROM 9AM to 12PM WITHOUT A RESERVATION

Final Silpi Bronze Work

Colorado -based master metalworkers Bobby and Kathy Page sent us these photos today depicting the final major addition to the bronze Iraivan Temple Builders' Memorial. This piece shows Selvanathan Stapathi marking designs on one of the temple's Tara pillars as another part of the pillar is worked on by Chinnaiya, a marvelous sculptor with unique gifts who spent several years on Kauai. As you may remember, sculptress Holly Young, who lives on the Big Island, made a casting of the actual pillar in Iraivan Temple to aid her in her work. This means the bronze pillar you are seeing here is an exact duplicate of the stone pillar in the temple, perfect in every detail.These photos show some of the assembly process of the bronze pieces. Bobby noted there is some duct tape on the architect's arm, there to steady tack welds while the final welds take place. After this, the piece will go to the gifted patineur, Debbie Bakel, for the chemical coloring of the metal surfaces which will make the realism come to life. After that, it will be shipped to Kauai. One of Bobby's observations when the monks visited Loveland last September is that one seldom sees a massive architectural work executed in bronze. People, yes. Dogs and cats, yes. But not architecture. That is one reason this masterwork, as we call it, evokes such awe! As a final note, there is still a major bronze piece to be done, which is the 2-feet-wide by 6-feet-tall by 9-feet-long Chola-style panels which record the names of some 15,000 donors around the world. It's a major piece, but this one above is the last one that shows the silpis at their tasks. Aum Namah Sivaya

Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.

Subscribe to RSS Feed