FRIENDS OF NITYANANDA INSTITUTE PROJECTS

The Rudi Project (July 2004)

“This is the most important artistic project undertaken in our lifetime.”
--Swami Chetanananda

Swami Chetanananda has dreamed for over 30 years of making a life-sized statue of Rudi. His early attempts to find a sculpture that captured the essence of Rudi were unsuccessful. He eventually decided that a statue should be made by a practicing student with a living connection to the lineage.

Ten years ago, Swamiji gave student Karla Refojo the opportunity to work on the statue. She gratefully accepted, having no real sense of the challenges she would face or the life-changing undertaking it would become. Karla was an artist, but she had never sculpted before. In the process of making the statue, she learned about sculpture, about Rudi, about perseverance, and about maintaining contact with the place inside from which art emerges.

Karla started by making a small Rudi statue as a model, and a number of copies were made by a foundry in the US for Institute students and friends. For sculpting and casting the large statue, Swamiji suggested that she work with some of the finest bronze casters in the world—the Newari artisans of Kathmandu.

For the Rudi project, Karla found Ravindra Jyapoo, a master sculptor who is considered to be the best in the Kathmandu Valley in portraiture. Ravindra is an unassuming, quietly intense man who is completely devoted to his craft. He lives and works in a small house near the base of the Swayambunath stupa with typical Newari construction: earthen walls, a corrugated tin roof, and with little protection from the elements.

Ravindra works in the traditional "lost wax" method. This process is complicated and time-consuming, but allows the artisan to achieve very fine detail. In the lost wax process, the statue is first sculpted in clay, then a relief model or dye is made with plaster. The plaster is lined with a layer of melted wax, which is separated from the plaster to make a copy of the original clay model. The wax statue is coated with a mixture of fine clay and cow dung to make a mold. The mold is heated and the wax melts and flows out. Then the molten metal is poured in. After the metal cools, the mold is broken to reveal the statue inside. With a statue the size of Rudi, in each step in the process the model is made in sections to be assembled later.

Karla and Ravindra worked closely together in his studio and began by sculpting the large statue out of clay. This year they worked on the wax model. Swamiji was there to advise them throughout the process so that Karla and Ravindra could continually refine their work. Their combined effort achieved a result that more closely resembles Rudi than any previous attempt.

The wax model of Rudi is now complete, and over the summer Ravindra will be preparing to cast the statue in metal. He will use the five-metal technique. Swamiji chose the five-metal technique because it is the method traditionally used in Nepal and India to create sacred images. This technique combines gold, silver, copper, zinc and tin, each of which correlate vibrationally to planetary energies, similar to the way gemstones are used in the Vedic system.

After the statue is cast, the pieces will be joined and the surface imperfections removed by hand. The entire surface will be cleaned and polished, and the patina will be applied. The Rudi statue will be finished in a copper-toned bronze with antique gold worn away over it to reproduce a 14th century patina.

The Rudi statue is still several months away from being finished. We hope to bring it to Portland next year and that Ravindra will join us for its consecration. At this pivotal moment, Swamiji says, “The completion of the statue marks the realization of a thirty year dream. It is a tribute to our work and sacrifice in honor of Rudi and his teaching.”

We welcome contributions to the Rudi Project.

Nityananda Institute, Inc.
P.O. Box 13310
Portland, OR 97213-0310 USA
Phone: 503-231-0383
e-mail: friends@rudrananda.org

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