Centre of Creativity

Artwork Artwork by Tom Abbass-Saal tom@centreofcreativity.org Graphic design Logo Design
This sculpture is carved out of a piece of oak. It is a functional piece that can (and is currently) used as a large and elegant fruit bowl. The story behind this piece of wood is the following: The tree grew on an estate in Holland near the town of Tiel. This particular place was, and still is, home to a number of special and unusual trees; in fact the land is quite special altogether. The combination of the land and the trees made a group of people decide to rescue it from urban developments by buying it and starting a community. At some point, in this historical tale, my parents joint this community and lived there for seven years. It was in this time that this massive oak had to be cut down. I got this very heavy piece of it and transported it to my houseboat in Amsterdam. The weight of it was a real problem and I decided to roll it down the dyke into the water in order to pick it out of the water next to the boat. To my big surprise, some of you might now think OF COARSE!!!! DIDN'T YOU KNOW THAT!!!!, the log did not float at all. In fact it kept on rolling even under the water surface. The only thing I saw was a trail of mud following the path of the log. It took me a while to lift it out and hang it next to my boat to stay in the water for about 1.5 year. After this time I let it dry in the open outside and later inside. All this to prevent it from cracking. Did this help?.... One can never tell, because it is unclear what would have happened to the wood without this treatment. It did not not split at all. Now it found a place in the centre of creativity and yes, it is for sale. If you are interested, please contact me on tom@centreofcreativity.org

This sculpture is a tribute to a woman that I have never known personally, but lives on in the other world. Her name is Daphne. She lived in a beautiful house in Kent and my first time to be in her surroundings was on the day of her funeral. She had lived an interesting life and was loved by many. The most striking thing about this sculpture is the fact that the wood seemed to have its own mind in deciding what it wanted to become. I started of sculpting it with a different agenda. but the wood did not cooperate at all. Looking back on the result I have to admit that there is a lot in this sculpture that reminds me of Daphne. First of all, the wood comes from a very old (approx. 900 year old) yew tree that still grows in the garden of the house were she lived. The sculpture has two faces: a western looking face and an Asian looking face. Daphne had a special relationship with the east. Another striking feature on the sculpture is the neck that reminds many of the front of an old ship: Daphne worked for the navy and spent many hour looking over the big water.

This wall mountable sculpture was made as a wedding gift. The symbolic meaning of this piece is strong and taken as scary by some, but this is completely unintended. The meaning I wanted to convey was the following: Two snakes are biting the same deam catcher /ring. By doing this they inject it with their poison/medicine. The snake is a symbol of medicine in many cultures and it is not that long ago that pharmacists and doctors used the poison of certain snakes to extract their poison and turned this into medicine. When two people marry they bring their own talents, gifts and medicine into this relationship. One learns from the other and together they help each other to grow. It can fuel a long dream, a long journey together.......scary?, yes maybe, but in a different way.

	This sculpture was made in 2002 in London. The wood was laying around in South London on a small patch of public land. Apart from this there is no historical background to the wood. The wood is the root of a fruit tree and was very challenging to work with. encapsulated in the wood I found stones, soil and all sort of residues. For some reason everything fell into place and the hidden surprises helped me sculpt the shapes instead of them frustrating the process.

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