In Canyonlands near the
The Old Lady
There was an old lady who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread
And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.
Mother Hubbard’s Shoe
The road hugging the eastern escarpment of the Drakensberg mountain range in
In the shadow of artist and wood-sculptor Ron van Zyl’s double-storey shoe – with a concrete toecap painted cream, yellow laces and a pitched, red tin roof – is the grave of The Old Lady of the Shoe: Mother Hubbard. On the wall to the side, next to the mural of Christ’s face with eyes ‘that follow you all the time’, is her epitaph:
We have no idea where she comes from and where she got the children. But apparently brought up many.
But what we do know is that from her living style she was an immaterial Christian lady who lived alone with her artworks after the children had gone.
Adam & Eve
Outside, below a window near the entrance to the shoe, is seating, from which teas and sandwiches are served. Inside is a curio shop with a beaded curtain at the far side that leads to a passage where Iron Age implements and an assortment of bones excavated in nearby caves are displayed. On the wall above is a mural explaining Van Zyl’s unique version of the story of creation – of Adam and Eve – that occurred 6 000 years ago.
Prior to this Satan ruled earth, but God managed to get a foot in when he instantly sucked all the water from the planet. Since then the world has existed in 2 000-year cycles that ran from Adam to Abraham, Abraham to Christ, and Jesus to the present – all marked by the struggle for supremacy between the forces of good and evil.
Statue of Esther
From here the passage opens into the interior of the toecap of the shoe – Mother Hubbard’s room with her patchwork-quilted bed at one end. Beside it are her pink floral potty and a bedside table, on which her Bible, spectacles, toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste are neatly arranged. At the foot is a triple-decker crib for the babies whose toys are scattered everywhere.
The room is decorated with biblical leadwood sculptures: the Story of David cut from a 300-kilogram piece of wood alongside a plastic doll; a bust of Elijah with a teddy bear close by; and a statue of Esther that has the face of Michelle Pfeiffer and the breasts of Dolly Parton.
This fantastical room is also the gallery of the short, bearded Van Zyl. He is wearing jeans, a blue T-shirt and tinted glasses, and is polishing a pair of wooden hands clasped in prayer. Round him are the tools of his trade, and pinned to a felt board is a photograph taken of him studying at the Villa Borghese in
Intensely Spiritual
‘Those photos remind me of a very frustrating time in my life and I keep them to spur me on,’ he muses. ‘I’m a natural artist and I find formal instruction very inhibiting. But the worst was the six years I spent at sea with the South African and Royal navies. I’ve always been intensely spiritual and I thought the navy would help me find the truth I had been searching for, but I found only utter shallowness.’
When he left naval headquarters in Simonstown over 30 years ago, he headed for Canyonlands – in particular a rocky outcrop not far from the shoe. Over the next decade he spat out his accumulated vexation on the stone: carving a depiction of ‘Man’s Descent Into Hell’ down the face; cutting a stairway through a cleft to a hollow at the top where he sculpted an enormous enthroned Moses holding the Ten Commandments; and creating a sculpture garden down the other side that features Daniel and the lion, Adam battling a demon serpent and the first of his faces of Jesus with eyes ‘that follow you all the time’.
‘When I was sculpting I intended to inscribe my name on the rocks so everyone could see that I had done it,’ adds Van Zyl. ‘It was all about me – nothing else. Then, before I finished, God approached me and asked if I would give him my talent. Since then I’ve only worked under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.’
Mogaba Guest Lodge
Soon after this epiphany, the site on which the shoe is now built became available, and Van Zyl jumped at the opportunity of acquiring it. After building the shoe, he began constructing the stone house behind, shaped like a thermos with hollow walls between which a person can walk.
When he finished this he started on the adjoining Mogaba Guest Lodge with its quaint individually decorated stone rooms, each christened with names like ‘Love’ and ‘Joy’. Next door is the restaurant with a chimney large enough for Father Christmas and religious murals covering the walls – even in the bar.
Tearful Jesus
While he was building the guest lodge a cloud of intensely bright light descended from heaven and all he could see coming out of it were the feet of God, who gently led him to where it was more comfortable. Before him was a tearful Jesus, distraught that so many souls were going to hell. The Lord then revealed to him the problem and the contribution Van Zyl could make to resolve it.
‘Before then I had always tried to do things outside my powers like praying for people starving in far-off places,’ he explains, ‘but God told me to concentrate on the possible and leave the miracles to him. That changed my life in seconds as I then realised that I had to focus on what I was doing for the Almighty.’
Descent into Hell
That was over 20 years ago and Van Zyl decided that the best way to communicate what God had asked him to do would be through his artistic talent. In the corner of Mother Hubbard’s room he began to dig an underground chapel and a series of six interlinking caves that portray man’s spiritual decline along with the course necessary for resurrection.
The vaulted, concrete caves, with piped commentary from recessed speakers and illuminated by coloured neon lights concealed behind stalactites, are a journey to hell and back. The first five caves – evil, shame, bitterness, sacrifice and death – descend into the earth accompanied by eerie music.
They are filled with horrific depictions of ghouls, evil witches, tokoloshes, hovering vultures, clouds of monsters and legged snakes. From here the passage rises sharply to the last magnificent chamber in which an enormous golden Christ, his foot on a serpent, sits on an immense throne clutching the symbol of death snatched from Satan.
Champion of the Universe
‘I contemplated this cave for a long time,’ says Van Zyl as he taps his foot to the glorious strains that thump round the space. ‘I was concerned that Jesus was too triumphant and that I hadn’t represented him properly. But God came to me and told me not to worry as Christ is no longer a lamb, but Champion of the Universe – the Lion of Judaeo – and I had rendered him exactly as he is.’
The passage, from here, rises past the chapel and turns blindingly into bright sunlight humming with celestial music.
