Sculpture while once the step child of my art endeavors has slowly become a normal part of my nightly artist repertoire. I had a desire to carve stone two years ago after seeing some of Robert Mihaly’s classical themed marble sculptures. I have yet to try my hand at a traditional sculpting style, however, through trial and error, I have come to develop a style unique to me. Often colorful, extremely tactile, and medium in scale my sculptural works display a common theme of harmony with their environment. They are born from the origins of French “trash art” where by found object are incorporated into the works or make up a major component of the works. Why buy materials, when Mother Nature, time and a bit of scouring fields can produce any number of useful artistic objects.
The piece above came from a number of joined sources. The central trunk of the sculpture is a green pine timber which was left over construction refuse from a rails to trails greenway. I freehand routed spaces to form a zebra like composition and filled in the holes with acid stained cement. The base of the sculpture is comprised of a carved cement base. The top of the sculpture is hand carved limestone which is pitted with tiny pockets of quartz. I ruined a few carving tools working on this piece. The stone was found while taking a vacation in the mountains of North Carolina in Boone. The supporting rocks on the piece were collected across the U.S. by my wife – Lindsey. I decided to utilize them as stability rocks without her knowledge, and after much pleading, she eventually agreed to let me have them so long as I stayed away from the remainder of her collection. This piece took a while to finish, given its totem pole construction and unplanned design. I am happy with the result – although I am unsure as to how to move it and look forward to the day it rests peacefully unmoved in a garden enclosure.
