By Joyce Smith

Towering over 11 feet tall, the Land of Medicine Buddha statue of Ksitigarbha stands on a base of black granite. The area surrounding the statue is covered with massive white marble tiles. A few steps from the statue is an enormous prayer wheel containing some 12 billion mantras.

The statue’s architect, Angelo Grova, spent a year reproducing Ksitigarbha from a 12-inch original that came from Taiwan. He remembers well the day two Chinese nuns, Thubten Dechen and Wei Yuan, carried the small statue into his studio. “They made a lasting impression upon me,” Angelo said, “because of the reverence with which they carried the statue.”

A collaborative effort, some 15 people were involved in the entire project. “It is not unusual for a sculptor to use assistants,” Angelo said. “I’ve done this many times before; however in this instance there was a general consensus that this was an important holy figure. I was pleased to have the opportunity to replicate Ksitigarbha.”

Most sculptors work in direct collaboration with a foundry, which reproduces an exact replica of the sculptor’s clay or plaster model. The Ksitigarbha statue was cast in bronze (an alloy of 85 percent copper and 5 percent each of tin, lead and zinc) at the Mussi Art Works Foundry, in Oakland, California, using the lost-wax process. This process, first used by the Chinese to cast bronze statuary and ceremonial vessels before 4000 BC, is still the most widely used of the traditional methods for casting metal sculpture.

Assistants and technicians in the foundry executed the construction from Angelo’s red clay pattern. First they made a rubber sectional mold backed by a plaster shell. The shell was removed, and layers of wax were painted on the inside surface of the rubber mold to a thickness of about one-eighth of an inch. The wax coating was then replaced by bronze. When the wax cooled, the rubber mold was removed, and detailing and retouching were done to the wax replica to create the desired finish. Sprues and gates in the form of wax rods were then attached to the wax – these rods allow bronze to be poured inside and gases to escape.

To cast the statue, ceramic shell material that formed the mold was poured in and around the hollow wax shell. Inside a kiln, the wax was burned out and the ceramic shell material thoroughly dried. The heated mold containing the negative cavity was packed in sand in a specially prepared pit in the foundry floor. Molten bronze (1950-2000 degrees Fahrenheit [1066-1093 degrees Celsius]) was poured from a crucible into the main opening of the mold, filling the cavity. When the metal cooled, it was broken away and the bronze piece was chased, cleaned and finished. Eighteen castings were used for the statue.

What difficulties did he encounter? “The head and crown were especially difficult,” he said. Although he’d been provided with the one-foot original, it was disproportioned. “The mechanical process to enlarge is simple, but when the imagery is not clear, as was the case, then a completely creative effort was required. No detail for the eyes or crown was provided by the original.” It took two months to do the modifications and improvements required on the head and crown.

The statue of Ksitigarbha is unlike anything else Angelo has ever done. His use of weight and balance of mass gives the statue such an impact that Ksitigarbha appears even larger than he really is. The textures and finish are varied so as to create shadows, as well as heighten the reflective qualities of the statue’s surface detail. His detailing is flawless.

Angelo Grova has been a member of the adjunct faculty of the University of Santa Cruz for over 10 years and teaches classes out of his large studio located in Santa Cruz. Born in Sicily, Italy in 1944 – the year of the monkey – Angelo Grova came with his father to the United States as a young child, settling in Manhattan. He attended Pratt Institute, Cabrillo College and the University of California at Santa Cruz where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree at Rutgers University. He has lived in California since 1969 with his wife, Beverly, and their four children whose ages range from 10 to 29.

Angelo’s works vary in diversity and in size from inches to pieces that are 12 feet [3.6 meters] by 21 feet [6.5 meters] in dimension. Many of his works are in private collections but he also has several in public places, including the Santa Cruz City Hall and the UCSC campus. Many of his works are in private collections in China, France, Italy, Japan and Mexico.

The statue of Ksitigarbha is the first piece Angelo has done of a solely religious nature. “I’ve been a sculptor for over a quarter century and I’m always saying that I can sculpt anything, but this was perhaps my most inspirational project.” He says he was “moved by the concept of creating the buddha, not only because of the spiritual aspect of it, but because of my own understanding of Buddhism. I have known for some time that I am a Buddhist in my soul. I believe that everyone should be a Buddhist in their soul.” He paused and continued with a smile, “Besides having the uplifting experience of working on the statue, I also realized that I may be one of the few Italians to have ever done a Buddhist sculpture!”