Sotiris Mantalvanos

I was born in Anninata, Kefallonia in 1936 and arrived in Australia 30 years later in 1966. I always had an urge to work with wood – to sculpt it, sand it and carve it. In 1970 I created the ‘Kri-Kri’ of Crete from a forgiving, soft wood and in 1971 the classic trireme. A third work was produced in1974 of a Dachsund. I did not refer to imagery or models for these work, nor did I intend to create them – it was as if they needed to be produced based on an internal desire.
In the early 1980’s a similar urged prompted me to illustrate graphite images of nature and in time, I moved onto acrylic painting. During this decade, there were significant findings of long lost Chinese sculptures and these prompted me to duplicate one of the a horse’s head that was unearthed.
I felt compelled to pursue my wood carving craving, without having had any professional tutoring and without obtaining any formal certification.
I feel that I have no choice but to produce these works, as they are called upon from within.

To view more of my carvings please visit Woodcarving by Sotiris Manatalvanou.