Pina Macku, a Sutton original and a great artist
.By M. Helmuth Starhemberg
Pina is one of the people in my life that you can not define. She is whimsical, educated in psychology, she gives dance classes twice a week in Sutton's Grace Anglican church, she is an atheist yet believes in " something spiritual " out there...
She also is pretty. At 64, she looks like 48, she carries herself with grace and her voice is music to a listener. She and her husband (she married at age 20 in Chechoslovakia) left their homeland during the turbulent times of Dubjec's "Spring of Prague' which ended up being the last bloody invasion of a country by the former Soviet regime.
I somehow missed her leaving her country by about a month or so, because I covered the horrible events in August of 1968 for my Austrian newspaper, was beat up and spent a week in jail in Prague.
After leaving, Pina and her husband, a mechanical engineer, moved to Basel in Switzerland, when she tried to continue her studies in Psychology. However, even after three years of study back home, the Swiss authorities insisted in her learning all the official languages of Switzerland, while giving her no credit for her prior experience. So - she studied dance instead and to this day she gives dancing classes
Eventually, the Macku's moved to Sutton because her husband had a job as mechanical engineer who worked for a guy who owned property in Sutton and a lot of Check people were afforded land at a reasonable price. Then "hubby" found his "trophy wife" which he now has two kids with, leaving Pina with the first two.
"We are still friends" she chuckles. It took me a couple of years to get over the shock, but he was honest, he sat right down and explained that he had fallen 'head over heals with another woman". At that point, Pina decided to devote her energy to her great love of creating art objects from recycled stuff, from old forks, scythes, tractor parts and other farm implements.
Pina's Home is also a bed and breakfast place but unlike many othere in the area, she does it the simple way: You get a beautiful room,. help yourself to the well stocked larder or fridge, and just enjoy. "There is no key to the house and people can eat everything I own" is her simple tenet. "I am no cook, nor am I a waitress".
But her art is so excepional, it is breathtaking. Her mirror art alone should be featured in a book, the incredible delicacy of her blending pieces of crap iron with ancient wood is a symphony of imagery that even her own home town composer. Smetana, would approve of, .because just like his famous work "The Moldau", Pina harmonizes simple objects into a flowing rainbow of irresistable beauty.
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