The
Josefina de Vasconcellos Arts Care Trust was the brain-child
of the sculptor, Josefina de Vasconcellos, from whom it takes
its name. Josefina died in 2005 at the age of one hundred, leaving
behind fine examples of her work throughout the world. The work
by which she is best known is her sculpture, but she was, as
well, an accomplished poet, painter and composer.
To
understand the purpose of the Trust it is necessary to understand
something of Josefina’s most deeply held beliefs, which
can be summed up as faith in the power of God, and in the power
of art. She believed that art appealed to people of all cultures
and creeds. Josefina’s personal creed was Christianity.
She thought of God as the creator of all things and felt that
she should do all in her power to engender a respect for creation,
for the earth and the life it sustains. It was from these strands
of philosophy that she conceived the idea of a trust to encourage
young people to enjoy art and become artists themselves. She
intended, too, that the proposed trust should benefit communities,
in Britain, or abroad, that lacked economic and material advantages.
The themes of her work were not new, but they were timeless and
ambitious, and her aim was to express them simply, to make them
comprehensible to everyone. The message of God’s love permeates
her art, for Josefina was convinced that if people loved God,
they would love and respect each other, that this was the way
to world peace. It was also the way to inculcate respect for
the environment, and was ultimately the hope for the future.
To promote these ideals within the anticipated trust, and to
draw support for the project, Josefina wrote an anthology of
poems concerned with these issues. To lighten the weighty topics,
and to appeal to a wider audience, she proposed that witty, light-hearted
sketches should appear alongside the poems.
Josefina
was involved in planning the Trust up to the time she died. She
had already persuaded a close friend, Santa Tattersall, to help,
and before her death had overseen a meeting to discuss the proposed
trust, between Santa and the Director of World Exchange, the
director having travelled from Edinburgh to attend. When Josefina
died, she left a request that Santa would continue to work towards
establishing a trust and Santa has set about co-ordinating the
arrangements for the project. This is a complicated process,
especially as Josefina, who was Brazilian, hoped to have early
links between Britain and Brazil.
Contact has been made with Josefina’s family in Brazil, in particular with a relative, Pedro Nazareth Pinto de Carvalho. He has offered his support and in 2006 visited Santa in England to discuss future projects that the trust might be interested in funding. One of these is to publish The Wings of Man, in both an English and Portuguese version, Portuguese being the official language of Brazil. It is also planned, in accordance with Josefina’s wishes, to produce a Braille edition. The latter intention reflects Josefina’s interest in the visually impaired and in the J. Clarke School for the Visually Impaired. She and Santa visited the school.
Josefina having designed a carpet of varying textures upon which barefoot, blind children can position themselves by the feel of the different textures. She suggested that if music were played, the children would be able to enjoy dancing, and of course, the music. It is hoped that the Trust will eventually provide many opportunities for the disadvantaged, but at the moment, your help is needed. Anyone who feels they might make a contribution of any kind is asked to contact Santa Tattersall – to bring Josefina’s plans to fruition and, in a small way, to make the world a better place.
J
De V Arts Care Trust
