One Folk Artist’s Tools: Chisel, Broom

Summer mornings find Jamaican folk artist Elton Braithwaite in the college classroom teaching youngsters a little bit about woodcarving and a lot more about life.

Nights, he’s back in the classroom--pushing a broom.

The college president calls him a treasure.

The head of the maintenance staff does too.

“Whatever I’m doing, I’m just Elton,” said Braithwaite, who has carved a unique niche for himself at Holyoke Community College as both an artist and a janitor.

He has no time for those who wonder what lessons a man who works at a menial job can offer at a place of higher learning.

Or for those who would question why a man whose wood sculptures have been displayed in art museums, and which two years ago were chosen by the Jamaican government to represent its woodcarving traditions in an international tour, should spend his nights cleaning.

“When he was on Earth, Christ was a carpenter,” Braithwaite said.

College President David Bartley said, “It may be unusual, but he is a gifted artist and just does terrific work. He is a treasure.”

Still, he can’t resist adding that if only Braithwaite would work on his academic credentials he could be teaching art in more than the college’s summer program for children.

He considered it once, said Braithwaite, whose diploma from the Jamaica School of Art hangs in his Granby studio and who gives programs at schools under the sponsorship of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. “But they wanted me to take over courses that I had already taken.”

Braithwaite’s journey began at age 15 in his native Jamaica, when the youngest of 12 children found a screwdriver in the road.

“I brought it home and sharpened it into a chisel,” he recalled. And for the first time he looked at a block of wood and saw the image of a face waiting to be released.

Over the years, as his work has become recognized, Braithwaite has traveled to Ghana and other African countries to meet other woodcarvers. He eventually made his own way to Massachusetts.

“Mother Nature is the greatest artist; I just shape what she creates. The stories are in the wood,” he said.