Alabaster
Hearts
A woman looking through the gallery asked if I could design a piece that reflected her special relationship with her son; a relationship that involved a heart health crisis. Upon reflection I suggested overlapping hearts made from translucent white alabaster.
The result is two superimposed hearts but when placed in a window and backlit the smaller heart “ghosts” in the larger one. The warm light also shows fissures in the stone that appear like arteries. An unusual design but a perfect match for what the client desired.
Lighthouse
This stone is white alabaster with a warm rose hue. The rose hue suggests the warmth of an unseen sunrise. Placed on a rocky promontory of grey slate (the base) the lighthouse looks out providing both protection and warning. The small out buildings are unattached allowing the owner of the sculpture to be a sculptor and create a new sculpture by re-arranging the structures as they wish.
Walk in the Snow
White alabaster in a matte finish provides a perfect replication of snow. The piling of the snow in front of the boots, the lean of the body and her hand resting on her thigh suggest the struggle to make her way to her destination.
After sketching the figure on the four sides of the block I did the initial stone shaping with a grinder. The body contours and limb detail were defined using small files called rifflers. Finishing the stone with a mid-grade sandpaper provides the white matte finish.
Coupled
Peachy orange alabaster is not an easy colour of stone to incorporate in to a sculpture. Combine a colour challenge with a thin slab of material and you get a bas relief of an embracing couple. This piece actually sold as soon as it was finished. Uniqueness of design combined with every piece being one-of-a-kind is a winning combination.
Leap of Faith
The humpback breaks the surface of the water creating a foamy white base. The whale is white alabaster polished to a glossy finish that reveals the translucent stone. When backlit the breaching whale glows with energy. Place it in a sunny window and watch the sculpture change as the sun moves across the sky.
Bunny Run
What a silly name for a sculpture! Well not if you look at it closely. This white alabaster stone is polished to a high finished and appears translucent. When backlit it glows warm. I was inspired to create this piece after watching my granddaughter play with her “stuffys”.
Whale and Calf
This stunning whale in black alabaster twinkles with the hi-lites of ambient light. The close positioning of the whale and calf demonstrate the dependency of mother and daughter in a challenging environment. The sculpture, mounted on brushed aluminum posts floats over the white ocean base..
Future of Flight
Riffing off of the “round peg in a square hole” idiom I designed the intersection of a round hole (actually elliptical) and a square hole. And of course to make it more challenging I balanced the piece on the edge of the circle. The material is translucent white alabaster that when backlit has a warm white glow.
Ice Flow
We hear so much about the imminent demise of polar bears due to the impact of global warming on their environment that I wanted to sculpt a polar bear that reflected their condition. Consequently Ice Flow shows a white alabaster bear confined to a tiny ice flow. The ragged edges symbolize their shrinking world. The bear, always vigilant, is on the hunt for food.