“Our people are matriarchalist and I wanted to give another identity to the sculptures”
- Xabier Santxotena Alsua (Bozate, 1946) is a sculptor. Its tool is wood and makes giant pieces. She is currently engaged in recognizing women through sculptures. Presume of exhaustion, “the guild or collective of wood”. Jorge Oteiza was a university for him, and although he created about 100 works in 54 years, he has not been tired: "Sculpture is a game." However, in the absence of institutional support, it speaks of the danger of the disappearance of museums.
It's not the last Mohican, but the last greeting?
I'm proud to be agot, it's beautiful. In 2019 we present the book "The Pride of Being Depleted", where we exhibited the doctoral thesis, the ideology of the burdens, the works and the historical events. And here we go.
What is it like to be agot in 2023?
Drunks made transports, weapons and others with wood. It's the guild or collective of wood. The first documents appeared in the Pau area in 626. The story is terrible. In 1213 we fled the inquisition, we were already collective. In the Romanesque, the most famous group were the quarries, but in the Gothic were the loggers capable of forging all the structures. In Paris, the burdens built eight cathedrals, including Notre Dame. We were even banned from entering the church in small towns.
You've been making sculptures for half a century.
I start with ideas. Gernika, the war in Ukraine… Complaints and recognition. I want to add personality to sculpture by deepening history. I have works done around the age of 50 in my museums. My father was a tallist and my grandfather was left-handed. Wood has always been in our house. I started in sculpture after military service, in 1969. I had Jorge Oteiza a very friend, and when he was sent, he stayed in my house. I wanted to see my jobs, and their psychological support helped me a lot: it was college for me.
In the Baztan museum I have giant sculptures, made of iron, bronze, wood and concrete, among others. In addition to this museum, Borda and Artziniega also have many others. In the Vatican I have a piece delivered to the Pope by the City of Azpeitia. But from 100 pieces, 97-98 I have them here collected. I live it with a lot of passion.
You're now making sculptures at the front of women. Perhaps for lack of recognition and presence?
Basque Country has always been matriarched. Our grandmother taught us administration, education and respect. I have a dozen sculpted heads. Elbira Zipitria (formerly Basque Miss), La Pola (Policarpa Salabarrieta, shot dead in Colombia), Graxiana Barrenetxea (accused of witchcraft burning Zugarramurdi), Polixene Astrabudua, Dolores Ibarruri, Catalina Erauso… Now I will be Toti. I used to make male minds. Oteiza, Unamuno, my grandfather -- I did eight, but then I decided to make women. Our people are matriarchistic, and I wanted to give another identity to the sculptures.
The Basque mythology gives rise to the museum park of 32,000 meters from Bozate.
They're all stories, and I've brought our beliefs. The game is about sharing pieces and meaning with people, understanding art.
His is the encyclopedia of artistic history, a sculptural maze.
Without meditation you can't move forward, you have to think. Each sculpture is a three- or four-month work, but I also do other things in the workshop, with clay and wood. I am alternating according to the day of the week.
"There are many sculptors in Euskal Herria, but economic aid is lacking"
How do you see the situation of wood or sculpture?
There are many sculptors in Euskal Herria, but economic aid is lacking. Oteiza said that a network of museums would be built in Euskal Herria and that we would be at the top of the world. I took the floor. What happens? Need for aid. It is a very heavy and dirty job, and without the support of the institutions there is a lot of poverty. Despite the existence of institutions, how much does the Guggenheim, Tabakalera, Artium cost? And the help of their artists?
The agreements are necessary, otherwise we will close museums and introduce sheep on the back.
Therefore, in Euskal Herria there are many artists, but few museums and aids?There are more
artists working with iron, but we are very few in wood sculpture. In Euskal Herria, at first, there was a sculptor in every family, but not today. It's hard to live as a sculptor. There are fine works, but aid is compulsory.
How many heads, different opinions. Looking forward, what do you think?
Keep working, but I don't have room here anymore, and that's the problem. In the parks of Bozate and in Artziniega I no longer have room for the sculptures [laughs].
100 works in three museums
“In 1998 we opened the first Bozate museum in Baztan and the second in 2003. We show the history of the burdens and Basque mythology, all the beliefs here. The museum is located on the river bank, in a privileged location. Artziniega is a workshop museum with another philosophy. There we explain the path from the sketches to the end of the pieces, which is our game and our breathing. People of all ages come. Once in Artziniega, the 5-year-old Gallarta children, on their workshop visit, made amazing pieces with iron! Oteiza said that children ages 5 to 10 have the genius mindset, without complexes, and I share that sense. Here we show things like this: museums are not for seeing, but for living. Sculpture is a game."
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