Reading carved stone

[Aterra@xxxxxxx]

Hi folks,

    Richard Emmans, thank you for your interesting, informed and intelligent
questions about stone and the carving of it.  I enjoyed reading most of the
responses; it was great to hear Eliade mentioned.

    There is a connection through time whenever one grapples with stone.
Whether you are pumping up the volume on your air hammer  (i.e., Mr.
O'Mahoney) or you are 'direct carving' from a maquette, or you are exploring
right into the material with your mind, or you are cutting and setting ledge
stones upon a building,  you are connecting with the earth and the creation
of the material.  How can one carve stone and not contemplate how the
crystals were formed or why the veins are slicing through the rock in such a
way?

    Stone inspires memory.  I believe human beings connect with the
materiality of stone in a primal way.  I am not sure this is a romantic
notion.  I am just talking here, but I believe 'people' experience stone in a
way which is similar to how they experience the eclipse of the moon, a walk
into the Grand Canyon or a moment of peace.  People experience stone in a way
which connects them to the primal forces of the earth, with the passage of
time, and the origins of their soul.

    There is a direct connection between material and fine art when
everything clicks, i.e., there is a syntax between the form and the material.
 When I view pure 'form' in stone I am not always easily moved.  I sometimes
have to search a bit more to understand why the artist chose the material or
the form or sometimes both.

    As a positive example;  Noguchi's 'Nadine' (a beautifully carved marble
nude) is a fine example of a formal sculpture connecting with the materiality
of the marble to bring out the full artistic vision.  I must admit, I
thoroughly enjoy many of Noguchi's pieces which utilize the iron stains of
the basalt, or the hexagonal form of the basalt interlocking and defying
gravity, or how he contrasted stippled and bushed surfaces with polished ones
in granites.  These examples represent the idea that the process of time acts
upon the piece of sculpture.  In fact, time is part of the artistic
expression.

    I understand how stone sculpture and stone carving can be viewed as
romantic.  But, I believe that instilling memory through one's art is a noble
achievement and one we all should pursue as part of our work.  However, the wa
y in which memory is instilled is of course the crux.  Postmodernism gave us
the worst examples of shallow thinking in this vein.

    Anyway, there are some thoughts.

Patrick Healy