Bermudian Carlos Dowling was relatively unknown as a sculptor prior to the unveiling of the Sally Bassett statue last November.

Although evidence of his work could be seen around the Island – the St. George's coat of arms on the gate leading into the Old Town, plaques created to accompany the Diaspora Trail as well as pieces in private collections – his was not a household name.

Not surprisingly however, he had begun honing his skill long before the wider community took note.

His latest project is a bronze plaque of Barack Obama.

He was inspired to begin the piece a day after Obama's historic inauguration as America's first African American president – something he never contemplated possible.

"I just didn't believe he had a chance when he first started out," the artist told The Royal Gazette during an interview from his base in Virginia. "I didn't think he had a hope of a chance, but America pleasantly surprised me."

He started on his path as a artist at age 13, when he apprenticed under a respected Canadian sulptor known here for her work on the Anglican Cathedral.

"First of all, I started out with Ms Bylee Lang, who did all the sculptures and figures in the Cathedral," he said.

"I had an apprenticeship with her from the age of 13 to 18 when she passed away. She was an award-winning Canadian sculptor. (And) I was with her for almost every day for those five years.

"She saw something in me that I didn't see in myself and I hope that she will be pleased now."

At 19 he travelled to England on the Bylee Lang scholarship, to attend the North Staffordshire College of Technology. Apprenticeship at the renowned Wedgwood Factory followed.

"I came back to Bermuda and started my own pottery business, which was called Ceramica Bermudiana – Italian, for pottery made in Bermuda."

In the 1980s Mr. Dowling moved to New York City, where he worked as a freelance artist.

During that period, he received several commissions including an eight-foot reproduction of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' crest, used for the exterior of the organisation's Manhattan headquarters, and a life-sized portrait of the founder of Norfolk State University, Lymon Brooks.

He returned to Bermuda four years ago and today he is the owner-operator of the Bermuda Gombey Factory in Dockyard.

The artist his work on the Sally Bassett project spanned two years although the actual sculpting time was some 28 weeks.

"I think the first credit has to be given to (Premier) Dr. Ewart Brown because he was the one who selected the theme," said Mr. Dowling.

"I was the one who was responsible for turning that theme into a sculptural form."

He said the idea came during a meeting with the African Diaspora committee during which he understood it was the Premier's wish to commission a piece of art that was in line with 'the Big Conversation', a Government initiative to encourage dialogue on race between the Island's races.

"When I was conceptualising the piece I said I wanted to do a piece that did not show us, as a people, as victims," he continued. "I wanted a piece that could inspire both major groups of our community.

"So I first came up with the title 'Sally Bassett Pregnant With the Spirit of Freedom' One person's terrorist is another person's hero, but the motivation could be very much the same.

"I wanted to show that we as a people have always overcome our struggles through our history and have always had that desire to be free and forward moving. And this is what I wanted this piece to be about."

That he was able to accomplish his feat was "due to the kindness of (artist) Manuel Palacio," he explained. "I was able to share his studio."

The resulting monument to Sally Bassett stands 10-feet on the Cabinet lawn, elevated as if she is "transcending between life and death, looking up into the heavens because we as a people are also a spiritual people and I wanted to bring that element into it."

Sally Bassett was owned by the estate of Francis Dickinson of Southampton. On June 1, 1730, she was tried on suspicion of poisoning several persons including Thomas Forster, who owned Sally's granddaughter Beck. Sally was charged with giving Beck poison discovered by a household bondswoman in the wall of the kitchen outlet. Even though Sally maintained her innocence, she was burned at the stake on a scorching hot day.

Persons who look closely at the Sally Bassett monument might ascertain as Mr. Dowling intended, that "she is tearing away from the chains, so there is nothing earthly that binds her".

"There is just a subtle indication of pregnancy. The spirit of pregnancy, just like the early stages of a real pregnancy, is not often seen. And the expression of her pose and her facial expression is one of defiance. I deliberately designed it so that when you look on the piece from the front, you just see a good sculptural form. It is not until you go around to the back of the piece that you see the other story, so all the elements of the piece were very deliberate."

The artist added that the statue also stands in honour of contributions made by black females.

"That probably has a lot to do with the fact that I came up in a single parent home and my grandmother, my mother and Ms Lang, were all strong women and women throughout history have also been warriors," he explained. Because of the horrific way in which Sally Bassett died, working on the piece was "very traumatic", he admitted.

"I left the fire element as one of the last elements that I did on the piece and when I was going out to pick the logs to use for the fire, I had something that came over me that was really tough and said, 'You know, one day there was a person or a group of people who had to do exactly this job. But not for a sculpture, for a real burning. And I was looking at the logs and I was like, that one doesn't look like it would burn too good or that one isn't dry enough. So you couldn't just pick up sticks, they had to be able to be used for a particular purpose and such a gruesome purpose."

His dreams at the time didn't help Mr. Dowling's troubled spirit – in a recurring nightmare, Sally Bassett's head fell off before him.

"I felt that those dreams were her way of saying that I had her spirit right; don't waver from that message and that desire to be free."

It is his hope that the monument will stand for future generations as a legacy of black freedom.

"If a people don't leave something of permanence behind – for whatever reason – they themselves disappear as there is nothing to remember them by. And in Bermuda there aren't many symbols of our existence," he said.

"This is what I have found most pleasurable is the feedback that I have gotten back from our people, is that finally they have an imagery of themselves that they can be proud of.

"Sally Bassett is a reminder of our past, and is a representation of a place from which we came and of what our ancestors had to endure. (She is also) a reminder to never to go back there. On the other side she represents something for the future which says look.....where we are going."

With that behind him, the sculptor has turned his hands to another project – a bronze plaque depicting President Obama. Each plaque is handcrafted in a process which takes four to six weeks.

"I sculpted in wax and then a rubber mould is made and then it is reproduced individually from the mould, and then hand-polished," he said.

"The frame is gold-leafed also the frame and the model are in all incorporated into the piece."

Asked why he selected the US President as his subject, Mr. Dowling said: "Well it is just that he is such a notable figure and I don't see too many people that are doing portrait..sculpture.

"Low relief sculpture is one of the hardest, particularly when you are doing a portrait.

"Traditional sculpture is more like painting where you have to employ a lot of trick shots. Paper is liable to fade away in time, but this here has a more (lasting) value."

At the moment the plaque is on show at a store next to the Taubman Museum of Art in Virginia.

"We had a little private unveiling just over a week ago.

"I have already gotten some orders and the first person who saw it bought one right away, so that is always a good indication."

Each piece comes with a certificate of authenticity. Persons interested in purchasing a plaque or learning more about the artist can visit www.carlosdowling.com.