Summer Explorations

Summer Exploration

I added three marble sculptures I made to the gallery. I started working in marble last year and my love for carving and handling this beautiful material is calling me to Italy this summer. I rented a workspace in a marble studio in Pietra Santa, Italy, in Northern Tuscany. I will be working on my own sculptures with the help of some very experienced Italian artisanos. I will be learning how to take measurements with calipers, tools that helps me scale the size of my sculptures from a small 8” tall model to any size I like (or can afford to ship back to the USA!) This is the traditional way the old masters have always created sculpture. Even Michelangelo used calipers and I will work with marble from the quarry where he broke his own stone over five hundred years ago!

It is not my intention to make my sculptures look like flesh and muscles. I admire and I will be blown away by the immense ability of the old masters to represent actual people and movement. I want to work with the marble so it keeps its inherent qualities. My forms are simple and if I can stay focused on the essence of my expressions, I should be able to let the stone also have a life. Marble has naturally a very crystal-like perfection and raw beauty. I want the stone to be more than just carrying my idea.

I look forward to a week in Rome and the religious art of the old masters. The truly great ones had a deep love for the human experience and did not work to produce religious art for its own sake. Their motivation was rooted in the depths of their love and sensitivity to human beings and this life with all its perils.

I’ll be in Italy for two months this summer, and I will come back brimming with new ideas and inspiration. Enjoy your own summer adventures and I will look forward to sharing my experiences with you when I return!