Zdeněk Matyáš, a carver from Moravian village Valašské Klobouky, wants to teach people the craft

By: Gabriela Všolková, Český rozhlas Ostrava

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The craftsman knows how popular carving is. He dediced to hand on his knowledge in public courses. 54-year-old artist has begun to build a shack which he wants to use for winter classes. „There are people interested in my lessons. I even met a man who wanted to give my course to his wife as a Christmas present,“ Matyáš says with a smile.

Local non-government organizations are willing to help with helding the education. For example the Czech Union for Nature Conservation Kosenka, which supports handscraft. The courses can count on the local creative artists as well. „I believe these people could do it for their own pleasure. However you can never rule out that there will be someone talented who will do the craft for living,“ noticed Matyáš.

The artist tries his teaching ability by working with his 13-year-old son. „He‘s already chiselled a few pieces and travels with me around symposiums.“ Zdeněk Matyáš trusts in the power of sharing knowledge within a family. He was drawn to sculpting by his father - a cartwright. Matyáš has been interested in craftin for more than thirty years. Making a sculpture takes him a month, making up a theme. He uses different kinds of wood, mostly lime. Recently he finished a large sculpture of saint Barbora, the miners‘ patron, for a graveyard in Havířov city, that had been decorated with his works before. „In Havířov I carved trees determined for felling. They put down the tree tops and I made sculptures right in the trunks,“ says the artis.

Matyáš‘s sculptures are placed in many churches, graveyards, he is the author of stations of the cross in historical town Dobruška. You can find his works in many private collections in Europe, USA and Canada. Matyáš is also one of the founders of Wallachian artwork, an event when sculptors, painters, carvers and potters meet in Valašské Klobouky.