To each his own. Or maybe: to each region, a jewel? The eagle of Pieniny is the souvenir to bring back from Sromowce Niżne. A little thing, you might say, but what a story behind it!
 
Let’s start with the following question: where did you get the idea – and who taught you to make such unusual ornaments?
I am self-taught. I was in the army in 1965, the Cracow Internal Security Corps in Tychowice, ground-to-air communications. Then they dispatched me to a place near Olsztyn, and I made a large eagle for the recreation room, I carved its full craw, with beads for eyes. My superior saw the eagle, lieutenant Czarny his name was, and he ordered me to make more. I stopped going out to work, I just sat there making my eagles, three a day. The lieutenant would come in and collect them, I have no idea where he took them. Once they gave us a tractor and a chainsaw. We went to the forest, I could pick my own timber. I kept making my eagles. I am self-taught.

Do you know how they ended up here in Sromowce, and what made them so popular?
Jakub Grywalski came back from the States and brought some birdies with him. They turned them into eagles right here.

Legend has it that a soldier wounded in the war made the first eagle in a plea for divine grace. Are you familiar with the story?
That’s no more than a legend, the truth is completely different. Jakub Grywalski was my godfather, born the same year as my father. Dad came back from World War I wounded. They were buddies with Jakub. Everyone was poor… they had no roads or electricity. When Jakub came back, they began making these eagles, and teaching other boys how to make them as well. And they began selling them. I still give them to friends or guests, as keepsakes.

How does one go about making such an eagle?
You need timber from just under the bark, it has to be spruce. Dense, but not hard, otherwise it is useless, cracking and breaking. You need two pieces: for the body and the wings. You have to notch the pieces, shaving them on either side with a sharp knife. Then you spread the pieces, ending up with a pair of wings and the tail.

Have you modified your technique and developed one of your own? Or are you still using the traditional one?
No, I haven’t changed anything. I also sculpt.

Is the craft popular? How many artists around here are still into what you do?
There are fewer and fewer, three or four, maybe. And they don’t make these anywhere else, only in Sromowce Niżne.

Thank you for your time.
Thank you too.