When Marika Bordes needs inspiration and materials for her art, she gets them from under the ground.

The faces, figures and masks in her sculptures emerge from tree roots.  A native of Haiti, she calls herself a "story builder," and explains why she uses that medium.  "It's the essence of the tree," she says, then switches to her own language to elaborate:  "C'est une matiŠre vivante."  It's living matter.

For Bordes, now an Island resident whose most recent work is on display through November 15 in Westview's gallery window at 625 Main Street, creating meaning from outwardly chaotic situations is not new.  Her artistic vision stirred when she was a child.  She recalls helping the nuns in the convent boarding school she attended in Canada.  When the school had an event or special function, she would help arrange the rooms and decorations.  Later, in various jobs in Canada and back in Haiti, she did the same, to the amazement and delight of her colleagues.  She also used her artistic touch to oversee the building of her house in Haiti and transform the plain gardens of the Canadian Embassy residence into an exotic paradise.

Although Bordes has been working in wood for only five years, the creative flame that sparks her other activities burns confidently high when she takes up her woodworking tools.  Yet the story of her introduction to this art is one of some hesitation and fear.

In 1994, she commissioned Sanon, a well-known artist in Haiti, to create a work from a five-foot root she had rescued from a building project.  Each time she visited his workshop in the hilly Petionville suburb of Port-au-Prince, she would give him suggestions.

One day, Sanon responded.  "He looked at me and said, 'Madame Bordes, you can carve.'"  She politely thanked him but secretly doubted.  She could picture the possibilities of the wood but not herself working with it.  He sensed her interest and finally offered to teach her.  She bought a book on woodcarving and some tools.  When Sanon saw them, he laughed at the dainty set and made some for her that were almost three times the size.  Every Sunday, for several hours, Sanon patiently guided her hands as she pounded a piece with a mallet, then gouged, carved and sanded with the custom-made tools.

Over the next couple of months she followed his lead, not making a move without consulting him.  During the week, after her regular job, she would take up her tools to complete his assignments.  The physical work, which she did all by hand, was challenging.  But over the months, she developed an attachment.  "I fell in love with the wood," she says.

Then, Sanon did something that pushed her to a new level.  With no explanation, he discontinued the lessons.  Confused and angry, she continued working on her own.  In anger and frustration she pounded and carved a root, not caring if she was making a mistake.

One Sunday, as she was working in her studio, Sanon walked in.  "He was so happy," Bordes recalls.  "He told me, 'This is exactly what I wanted to produce.  When I was here, you couldn't get out of yourself.  But I made you so mad you started doing it.'"  By withdrawing his support, Sanon had forced her to rely on her own skill.  "From that day, I was not afraid of the wood," Bordes says.

Over the years, Bordes's love affair with the wood has only increased.  She describes her style as that of a "story builder."  As she looks at a root, she says, she begins to see a story.  It may be the love between mother and child.  It may be the agony a woman experiences in childbirth.  Or, in the case of one of the pieces in her current show, it is Bordes's response to the horror visited on this country on September 11.  She peels away bark to reveal various colors and textures.  She may smell or taste the wood to help her imagine its shape.  She says she speaks to it, too:  "I don't want to break you."  She adds, by way of explanation, "There is a communication."

No two pieces are alike.  Her works range from six-inch figures to sculptures towering more than eight feet.

While she searches for a regular studio, Bordes works on smaller pieces in her home.  A member of the Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association, she participated in a group show on the Island in May.  She says she may work with other materials in the future.  But her love for the essence in her wood sculpting ensures her loyalty.  "I will always come back to the wood," she says.