Easter Island (Moai) Statues

We were lucky enough to travel to Easter Island and see the Moai statues on the eve of the millenium 1999. There we experienced a fascinating culture and a wonderfully exotic and mysterious history. We fell in love with the look of the Moai, and in particular the serene feeling one gets in their presence – it was a natural choice for a carving and an image for our Beaufort Winery. We sought out a local carver, Stan Skuse (X-Dream Sculptures) from Campbell River, and commissioned him to carve our Moai. The whole process took over 100 man hours, and was complete between September and December 2006.

According to Wikipedia:
Moai (or mo‘ai) are human figures carved from a single piece of rock on the island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island or Isla de Pascua in Spanish), mostly between 1250 and 1500 AD. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on platforms which were mostly at the island's perimeter. Almost all have overly large heads three fifths the size of their body. The Moai are the 'living faces'and representations of chiefly, deified ancestors. Sitting on their platforms with their backs to the sea, these statues were still gazing across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most were then cast down during conflict between different clans on the island.

The production and transportation process required significant intellect, use of resources, and creativity, and is considered a remarkable feat of human endeavour. The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 75 tonnes; the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at which weighed 86 tons; while one unfinished sculpture would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons.

Our Moai overlooking the vines & Beaufort Mountains.

One of our customers overlooking some Moai on Easter Island (Dec 09)