Figurative Sculpture
Trinity - a journey in stone
I began a three year journey
To find out what lies within a stone.
It is a big stone, large enough to hold a person
Or to find someone within.
I am a sculptor.
My tools are mallets, chisels, and files,
Fingers, arms, and eyes.
I work in flawless white marble from Greece,
Home to gods and goddesses in ages past.
The path I travel has its twists and turns.
Who will emerge from the stone?
Who will help me to find my way in?
Along the way I found a daughter
To breathe life into a crystal face.
I found a goddess to fill her form
between the folds in her silken drapes.
I found a friend to answer
When I plumb the spirit within.
These three women all exist within
The confines of this pure white stone.
One emerges - Treinity.
Trinity - sivec marble - Greece
Liberty - Statuario marble (Italy) - left
I began carving this piece as a "normal" representational torso but along the way I decided to abstract her a bit by carving out some planes, accentuating her feeling of movement, freedom from a purely anatomical form. With one arm raised she became my own statue of liberty.
Pearl - pearl marble (Turkey) - right
My idea here was to carve a highly detailed, soft female sculpture along the lines of Trinity but from a stone only 22 inches tall. This means that the scale is just under 30 percent, with a face just over two inches tall. I needed to wear headband mounted magnifiers to work on the eyes, nose, and mouth as well as her fingers and hair braids.
The Colors of a Woman - Stazeema breccia marble - Italy
The Colors of a Woman
The colors of a woman lie deeply within
And matter not on the shade of her skin.
Pink for the love and the passion inside
White to show she has nothing to hide
Cream for her calm and confident style
Crystal sparkles her beautiful smile
Mauve lips speak with quick sponteneity.
Searching her muted tints of subtlety
Reveals a rainbow of rich complexity.
Her colors shine through and stir the mind
To look for deeper truths there to find.
Her contours, her moves, her gentle trouch
Express everything there is to love so much.
The colors of a woman so rich and so fine
Intoxicate the spirit like a glass of fine wine.
Luna de la Noche - black Irish marble
I chose a piece of black Irish marble 26 inches tall to create a very elegant abstract female figure. Black stones require very long, careful sanding down to the finest grades of sand paper to reveal the shiny black surface that is possible to attain. During the process of sanding, I discovered three white, crescent shaped fossils within the stone, looking like crescent moons in the night sky. So, I named her Luna de la Noche - Moon of the Night.
Morning Stretch - marble - Georgia (USA)
This white marble from Georgia with subtle grey bands is highly conducive to a figurative sculpture. The stone is about 20 inches tall, and I thought that if I curled the legs beneath her to reduce the overall height, I could work in about a half full scale.
Arnaq Tapes - Artic wildflower - limestone
Initially looking at this limestone, I was struck by the myriad of fine parallel lines running through it. I decided to carve some convex surfaces to highlight these lines. Soon, I was struck how a human form seemed to be emerging. She developed the appearance of an Inuit. On the back side there is a rough surface. I carved two convex circles into this area, representing the different burdens she carries with her in life.