I have always been impressed by large format sculpture and those who create it. I have considered that it is very difficult to make and that artists must find it very complicated to execute; something that I verified more than once, when working in the Office of the Historian of this city, and I was lucky enough to look very closely at many of these works in the process of completion.

I perfectly remember Martha Jiménez, engrossed from the beginning in that complex sculptural group located in Carmen Square. I saw how her hands cracked, became dry, and even the occasional injury appeared due to the aggressive materials she molded; not only with spatulas of various sizes and shapes or other utensils, but with her own hands, in order to achieve the true image that she imagined and had built in her mind. She did not rest until she saw her desire embodied in clay, plaster, marble and, finally, bronze.

There in her workshop, initially on General Gómez Street, with very little space and even lack of conditions, next to her home, the visits were continuous; Also the frequent phone calls, as we checked on how the hard work was going. First there were the three large women gossiping in the neighborhood, with skimmer in hand, and attentive to what was happening on the street and whatever event was happening, flip-flops on their feet.

Then the others would come… the water carrier, taking as a living model that neighbor man over there, who carried water in his jug and sold it in his younger years; everyone called him “Matao”. Then the newspaper reader, a real man whose almost perfect gestural imprint was taken, and who took pride in sitting next to his image every day, so that every passerby would admire him and be amazed at the similarity that united them. .

The couple in love, the planters, the benches… everything complements the complex, which makes it unique in our city and which is talked about with great curiosity by how many visit it.

When evoking this place through which I frequently passed through daily, it is inevitable to remember those moments and see how now, in the middle of that square itself, splendid and well placed, in one of its colonial mansions the artist owns her workshop gallery. This space is frequented by locals from Camagüey eager to acquire some of her works, or foreigners who, carried away by her magic, come to find the passivity that is perceived in that patio and delight not only with her sculptures, but with engravings, drawings, paintings and ceramics of small format that comes out of her hands; those that continue to be prodigious and creative, and that on many occasions return to show some bruises due to the aggressiveness of what they shape.

On this day of the sculptor, and having taken only one of our important artists who cultivate this genre, to our friend Martha Petrona, we extend our congratulations to all the sculptors, who have the wonderful gift of creating such works of art.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García