LA MESA, Calif. – Two worlds apart, but we speak the same language of art. Olga Worm met artist Bongani Lincoln Khumalo of Cape Town, South Africa, at the Laguna Beach Art-A-Fair Summer Fine Art Festival. He then came to San Diego County to deliver a piece of art that Worm had purchased. We met at a restaurant in La Mesa.

Khumalo told me that he started making toys by hand out of wire. He made motorbikes and objects with circles because they were easy for small hands to connect. These objects were one-dimensional or had a flat surface. He often visited nearby wildlife reserves and started experimenting with three-dimensional animal designs, which took about 5 1/2 years to perfect.

Khumalo took the items out of his bag to show me his work so I could see his medium. I was amazed by the precise craftsmanship and placement of the beads.

One item that caught my eye was the Baobab wire tree. He explained that the Baobab tree has historically been considered the Tree of LifeThe trunk is a source of water, which in Africa means survival. The baobab tree represents the resilience it can endure in such a harsh climate. The leaves and fruit of the baobab tree also provide nutrients. The bark can be used to make a tea that can help people with the flu. The baobab tree is a giver of life.

The same applies to the Jewish concept of Tree of LifeThe Torah is food for the soul. The many branches connect our family members and the roots provide life and growth.

Khumalo makes animals from Africa and Asia out of wire and beads. Khumalo said he is upset by poachers and game hunters who come from all over the world to kill these exotic animals and display them as trophy heads in their homes. As an alternative, he makes life-sized artificial trophy heads. Many of these animals, such as lions and elephants, are endangered and highly prized in Africa.

He uses glass beads from Czechoslovakia or India. He has also ordered material from China, but it was disappointing and poorly made. He buys the wires locally in South Africa and in different thicknesses. I asked him if he wears gloves and he said no. We laughed and compared our worn hands and calluses from the work we enjoy doing. His creations are not uniform, as not all tigers, lions and elephants are the same – proof that he does not use manufacturing machines.

He creates the wire frame using a three-dimensional system on the computer and then follows the pattern with his various wire sizes and pliers. He enlisted some of his cousins ​​to string the beads onto the wire frames so he could complete the structure more quickly.

Another element is adding light into the trophy head to give the structure more dimension, which amazed me as I imagined the colors could glow on walls.

Khumalo is of the Lion Totem of the Shona tribe on his mother’s side. His father’s side is Zulu, which does not identify with a totem. His wife is of the Lion Totem from the nearby country of Malawi.

We compared this to marriage within the Jewish faith. Today, marriages between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews are acceptable, whereas generations ago such marriages would have been controversial.

The Laguna Art-A-Fair Summer Fine Art Festival closes at 6pm on Sunday 1 September. Khumalo can be found at booth D11. Two-dimensional pictures do not describe his amazing hand-crafted creations. It is worth driving up the coast to see and touch the amazing beadwork first hand.

Khumalo, 46, is married to Edith and they have three children, a 21-year-old son, a 16-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son. His work can be found here. Khumalo can be contacted via this link.

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Cailin Acosta is deputy editor of the Jewish World in San Diego.