Towers

TOWERS discussed

Stone as it is found in cliffs, scree, boulders left by glaciers, river stones are friendly elements of nature. Very approachable, we are drawn to sit or lean on them, feeling their many textures and warmth stored from the sun. Yet realize they are ancient ones.

For me quarried stone – dug up from beds with eons of soil and water stain and broken edges caused by tectonic forces, hydraulic machines mining it and rock face the surface left when huge splitting machines shearing the stone into building blocks; have a special beauty. I take these quarried shapes and arrange them in composition, using the broken edge, rock face and parting seam surfaces state their uniqueness when juxtaposed in a composition. The composition is ruled by Yeses.

I use exotic joinery to connect them where they intersect; causing a special interest feature you can focus on and making the intersection even more intense accenting the new shape of the whole composition.

Towers have a light seam where the two rock face edges nearly touch and their roughness causes a lively line of light. An added cube of stone on one corner of a column gives the eye a rest and is right alongside the exciting dove tail mortise and tendon joint that lets you zoom in then wander up the light seam into the whole composition. The horizontal stone supporting the towers is a broken yet rounded form, a calm friendly stone supporting the two jagged columns; the roughhewn stones with delicately crafted joinery give the simple composition strength.

This piece changes scale easily form and 2 foot high composition to 2 huge stone towers with a sitting stone. The black to deep brown color is and interesting new finish I have discovered. The mineral that binds the sands together in this sandstone deposit is calcium carbonate, the same mineral used to bind concrete together so concrete dye which is a stain that reacts to that chemical and changes the color of the surface works just fine on the stones*.

This is the third sculpture I have done in a series using these sheared columnar stones and intricate joint – Z~Table, Puzzle Stone and now Towers has occupied my studio for 5 months now and each have tested my skill as a stone cutter and craftsman. It has been a real treat and a nice group of sculpture. Each of these pieces has been stained with the Litho dyes.

*I will include a small vial of the stain with each sculpture as when the stones are scraped or chipped the under laying stone is much lighter to show the damage. The stain corrects that within 6 hours.
2014