The Story of my Sculpture of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The Story of my Sculpture of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

by Tony Fernandes

 (The shortest story ever told, so please read). Thanks.

Dubai - U.A.E. It was late autumn of the year 1991. A three feet tall statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, in transit from the Philippines, arrived in Sharjah, with a broken right hand which was unfortunately damaged and broken into pieces at the wrist, near the lower portion of the tunic from the outstretched arm of Our Lady..

In need of urgent repair of this statue, my sister-in-law, a church member who lived in Sharjah, asked me for help - if I could make a new right hand, and I said I would definitely try. A slab of white sculpting clay was provided to me, and in right earnest I assigned myself a task which I considered as a challenge, an honour, privilege and a blessing, all at the same time.

So, by looking at the left hand of the statue, which fortunately was intact, I had to inversely sculpt a mirror image, and attach the new hand, in situ, with glue and wire reinforcement drilled into the existing sleeve of the tunic. After completion of the new right hand I painted it in matching colours of the left hand, much to the delight and approval of the committee.

Now, here is where the story takes a new turn, and of course, for the better. A small amount of white clay remained from the above project, and a new idea was born; a new thought and a new challenge came into being. I did this by undertaking the work of sculpting an image of Jesus Christ on the Cross from the left-over clay by using holy pictures as references. Then I made a wooden cross and fastened the finished work to it.

Ever since that time this image has adorned the walls of every home that we have dwelt in, and accompanied us into every home that we have moved into. It goes along with our family from house to house, continent to continent. We brought it to Canada along with us, and has also been to India and back to Canada, and presently adorns the wall of the foyer of the house where we presently reside.

Sunny Scene in Oil Pastels

Scene in Oil Pastels

Size 12" x 15"

Painted by

Tony Fernandes

Age 15

Goa - 1962

Pastel Oils

Scene in Oil Pastels

Size 12" x 15"

Painted by

Tony Fernandes
Age 15

Goa - 1962

TONFERNS CREATIONS AT BUZZFEST

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENIN'

WHAT'S THE BUZZ

COME, VISIT

AND FIND OUT 

WHAT'S THIS BUZZ ALL ABOUT!

Tonferns Creations - Woodburning

Woodburning on 3/4" thick

basswood bark

 cross-section

12"x 10"

Estate House, Canada.

JOURNEY ACROSS THE ARABIAN SEA (Part 3)

Windtowers of Dubai

'Dubai Creek 1970'
Oil painting by Tony Fernandes
Size 3ft x 2ft
View of Bur Dubai across the Creek from Ras Deira
Across the creek: Left Customs House & Ruler's Office,
centre: Nat.Bank of Dubai and backdrop of the wind towers of Bastakiya Quarter.

Dubai - United Arab Emirates

(Oil Painting by Tony Fernandes) 
BEYOND THE ARABIAN SEA

aboard the m.s. SIRDHANA

Part 3 (Final)

Muscat, Oman

The early morning of Day 5, (6th September 1967), found us approaching Muscat, Oman. The s.s. 'Sirdhana' cast anchor about half a nautical mile away from the breathtaking mountains of Oman. Cargo shipments were unloaded and loaded to and from small boats that came alongside. Although Muscat had no port, it was a magnificent sight to behold from the sea with beautiful cliffs some of which had names of visiting ships painted by sailors in large letters on the sloping sides. We knew that this was our last port of call before reaching Dubai.

After leaving Muscat in Oman by the afternoon, passengers disembarking in Dubai seemed quite excited. The morning of Day 6 (7th September 1967) saw us through the Straits of Hormuz. Dubai would be the next stop in about 18 hours as I had learned from a fellow traveler. There were in fact many passengers on board who had traveled this route before. As the ship sailed towards the Hormuz Strait, the Hajjar mountain range loomed high and large in the distance on the port side.

Then everyone was reaching for their note books, writing names and addresses of their new friends, so that we could keep in touch in the future wherever we would be or wherever our destiny would take us eventually. It was almost like a family leaving their relatives behind at this point. Most of my friends that I made on board the ship seemed to be in their twenties or thirties. Some were headed for other places like Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait and the final destination Basra from where some said they would hitch-hike across Europe.

It was Thursday, 7th of September 1967, having sailed through the Straits of Hormuz, the ship turned south-west towards Dubai. On the portside was the Hajjar mountain range of Ras al Khaimah and on the starboard side was the vast expanse of the Arabian Gulf. It was a hot and humid afternoon with bright sunshine. Simmering in the heat far away I could see what seemed like silhouettes on horizon of high-rise apartments. Oh! Skyscrapers! I thought, but they in fact were beautiful wind towers in disguise.

As the 'Sirdhana' steadily edged towards Dubai, she dropped anchor about a nautical mile off the entrance to Dubai Creek. After a while Immigration officials from the Trucial States arrived in a in a police boat and boarded the ship to check on the visas that were issued by the British Consulate in Dubai. The ship’s officers’ main dining area was immediately converted into an immigration office for the purpose.

Dubai did not have a sea port for the m.s. Sirdhana to berth then. We disembarked using the ship’s ladder onto small boats that took us ashore, through the winding creek. The small shuttle motor boats were berthed at the jetty near the market place in Bur Dubai. 

I jumped on to the quayside with the famous BOAC blue bag slung over my shoulder with quite a relief. It wasn’t difficult to spot my brother in his trademark crew-cut who had been waiting at the Customs House. We both chatted while waiting for my luggage that would be arriving on another boat. We then headed home in his Volkswagen.

My sea voyage had ended. A new life and a new venture in a different place and culture was about to begin.

The seven sheikhdoms namely, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujeirah, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah, were then known as the TRUCIAL STATES OF OMAN, a British Protectorate. Four years later a federation was formed aimed at attaining subsequent independence. The British left and the United Arab Emirates was born in August 1971.

Today Dubai is a great, modern and magnificent city which boasts of a man-made sea port so large that it can be seen from space. There are many other man-made architectural and engineering wonders of the modern world that we have heard about. The creek is still beautiful albeit bedecked with skyscrapers on both sides, but the cluster of the original wind-towers that I had spotted nearly 42 years ago today still exists on the heritage site at the mouth of the creek still basking in warm sunshine - a reminder of the day when I first set foot in this beautiful country.

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Interestingly, the Sirdhana was the first passenger ship to berth at the opening of Port Rashid on 9th November 1970. Other sister ships were the Dwarka, Daressa, Dumra, and sadly the unfortunate Dara which sunk as a result of a tragic and powerful explosion near Dubai on 8 April 1961, causing the deaths of 238 of the 819 persons on board at the time of the voyage, including 19 officers and 113 crew.

*****     *****      *****

One and a half year after I first landed in Dubai, I flew on a BOAC VC-10 Aircraft to Bombay on my first vacation, perhaps leaving a jet-trail like the one I had seen from the s.s. SIRDHANA!!!

'TonFerns' holding on tight to his BOAC Air Ticket