Bay Island Driftwood Museum, Kottayam

Bay Island Driftwood Museum at Kumarakom displays large collection of superior quality driftwood articles of very high artistic value, prepared through a rare and innovative modern art form.

A Museum displaying a unique collection of superior quality driftwood articles of very high artistic value, prepared through a rare and innovative modern art form, is functioning at the scenic village of Kumarakom in Kottayam. A Visitor would find there a huge collection of root sculptures of various shapes and designs.

During her professional tenure in the Andaman & Nicobar archipelago, a dynamic lady school teacher used to pick up pieces of driftwood deposited by the sea on the shores, comprising of twisted tree trunks, stumps, roots etc., which had potential for transformation into sculptures with marginal efforts, thanks to the Bay of Bengal prone to frequent cyclones that make the sea turbulent and unpredictable. Every cyclone brought back as many things to the shore as it washed away from it. Some of these wood pieces and roots were centuries old and having drifted across the seas they became more resilient. Having traversed vast distances, what is left of a tree is its sturdiest part which has weathered much inclemency. The picked up pieces were cleansed, crumbling parts removed, scraped and trimmed to conform to the shape she had in mind. In the course of the process, it so happened, the Nature’s original designs could emerge more forcefully, evocatively and permanently. Many of these pieces closely resemble birds, animals, reptiles, amphibians and fishes. Shaping, scraping, polishing, finishing and preserving were done with fierce dedication.

The admirers and connoisseurs of this rare and innovative form of art frequent the Bay Island Driftwood Museum. The student community finds the art form adopted in the preparation of the exhibits in the museum interesting and educative as the museum inculcates in them the qualities of imagination, creativity, originality and initiative to produce useful articles out of materials normally considered waste.