"Don Bosco is not dressed as a priest, but with the cross of the Good Shepherd around his neck and with his sleeves rolled up, a sign of a practical man ready for work. He is carrying bricks for a building project which is being designed and built by young people that were trained by him." The artist learned his carving technique in the workshops of Trentino and then trained in Milan at the studios of the artists F. Mina and M. Buttafava at the Fra Angelico Art School
The statue is 52 cm high. The main characters are young people, building a house as they build their own lives, while Don Bosco and his Salesians are handing them the tools they will need for their future: books, work tools, and a football ...
The sculptor is an art teacher and is still active at 74 years of age. In the '60s he founded an art school in Burundi. For the past ten years, he has been collaborating with the Salesians in Turin, and he has created some works of art for the Salesians in Italy and in other parts of the world. For him, Don Bosco is someone real. "He is a strong, capable person, someone you can believe in. His system works well with young people, even today it is still the same in essence."
He is also fascinated by Mamma Margherita. "She was an incredible mother. For me she is even greater than Don Bosco. She amazes me!”
There is another aspect that links Mr Baldassari to the Salesians: the importance he attaches to education. "The value of art is not in its forms, but in its ability to amaze: you wonder at the beauty of a child, but you cannot close it in your own scheme. Art educates to the acceptance of difference and the ability to listen ... it offers great richness."
