Untame My Heart

In his extraordinary Sculpture Garden outside Stellenbosch, master sculptor Dylan Lewis takes FIONA MCINTOSH for a walk on the wild side

- Fiona Mcintosh

As I gaze across magnificent fynbos to rugged mountains, I’m reminded of how beautiful – and wild – the Cape Winelands are. Well-tended vineyards, orchards and elegant country homes push up against mountain wilderness where eagles soar and leopards still roam.

It’s the week of the Stellenbosch Woordfees and Dylan Lewis, widely recognised as one of the world’s foremost sculptors of the animal form, is taking small groups on a tour of his sculpture garden on the flank of the Stellenbosch Mountain. With visits only by appointment, the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden remains somewhat concealed.

We walk through a garden gate, the remaining tribute to the cottage in which the artist originally lived on the farm. Flanked by two camellias (Camellia japonica), and with towering oaks, a plane tree and a wild gardenia, it has the feel of an old cottage garden.

The first section of the garden, with its pruned hedges and manicured lawns rolling down to the lake, is formal, explains Dylan as we stop on the main lawn. “It contrasts with the rugged mountain wilderness of the backdrop. The primary inspiration for the garden comes from these mountains.” And natural forces have played a part in its evolution.We see how many of the trees are bent and sculpted by the wind into interesting forms.

Growing up in a creative but religious fundamentalist family (his mother and grandmother were painters, his father a sculptor), Dylan became fascinated with wilderness and the path of non-judgement. “Plants, rocks, clouds, birds, animals and oceans, unlike humans, have no opinion of me. They are indifferent to whether I live or die.” That freedom drives him, and all his work is associated with nature, a place he says connects him to his authentic, untamed self.