THE  HISTORY AND  STORY  BEHIND:

THE SYMBOLIC OF THE ASH TREE

“The Ash is prized for its strength and its healing qualities….

Celtic mythology refers to the Ash tree as The World Tree, a tree that spans between worlds.

It is the tree that represents The Tree of Life. Norse mythology had similar beliefs that the Ash was the tree said to span the universe, linking worlds”.

A stormy September day 2018 in Tenby/Wales.

Helen, the wife of the German artist Robert Raschke, found a big trunk of an Ash Tree on Paragon beach in Tenby.

She was so excited and told Robert about this find.

Robert was fascinated from the first moment . His brain worked like mad. He knew that he had to do a big sculpture from it.

 “The waves, the ocean currents brought this piece of tree to my beach, ……from North Wales, from Ireland…or from Canada ? Who knows? It was a long time in the water. The tree bark was glassy, very heavy,

about  two and a half tons!”

Robert examined the tree. The forms and the drawings on the bark reminded him of faces, beards and different figures. It made a click in his brain:

An idea was born!

An old lifeboat man, a Coxwain   from the 19^th Century, with Southwestern Rain Hat, with a beard, big hands holding binoculars, a cork vest.

For days and nights he couldn’t  get around the biggest problem. How to get it in his studio?