There are many terms that I could attach to my signature fine art marble sculpture collection but here’s a sentiment that I feel most accurately describes the body of work as a whole:

The Collection Series Marble Sculpture is Like No Other

I think we can all agree that, if you have encountered my marble sculpture in person or even are familiar with pictures of it, that it does look very different indeed. In fact, when people get to not only see it but touch and, yes caress it (because it really does feel fantastic to the touch, so smooth) one thing we all agree on is the fact that they have never seen sculpture quite like it. I even go so far as to ask people outright “have you ever seen sculpture like this before” ? – and some of these people are very well traveled indeed – but the answer is always the same: an emphatic NO.

And so the question begs: WHY does my Collection Series Marble Sculpture look and feel the way it does?

Today I will demonstrate exactly why my Collection Series has such a unique appearance, and why this is so beneficial to CSMS owners. I will explain and illustrate just how light, portable and thoroughly revolutionary this body of work really is. Yes, there are technical aspects of the carvings that I could go into regarding the thoroughly green credentials that my Direct Method carving technique brings with it, but that is for another post, right now I am going to focus on just what ownership of a Collection Series Marble Sculpture will mean for those new to the concept. And the best term that I can come up with is: a Lifestyle Upgrade facilitated by the fact that…

The Collection Series Marble Sculpture

is

Light, Portable and Carved for Full Immersion in the Real World

Let’s begin with the “Light” part in the statement above, after which we’ll move on to “Portable”, and what that means to Collection Series ownership. I’ll then round things up by presenting the case for my having carved sculpture that most definitely fits the “Carved for Full Immersion in the Real World” tagline.

And so what is it that makes my Collection Series Marble Sculpture so light? Well, the answer is me of course, for I simply remove as much of it as is necessary to easily move the sculpture from one place to the next – something that, without extensive moving gear and a crew to operate it, is usually out of the question when it comes to traditional marble sculpture, which by any standard is remarkably heavy and difficult to move, meaning that most marble sculpture over a foot or so in any dimension is destined to remain just where it was put until it is required to vacate its spot. You see, marble weighs the same as granite. Yes, it may look all light and airy, but the truth is – it is quite definitely not – looks can be deceptive.

The Colorado Yule Marble that The67 Collection Series Marble Sculpture was carved from is some of the most pure and of the finest quality ever quarried. There are plenty of posts on this website that will lead a newcomer to the amazing story of The Yule, but basically you will learn that the rough old blocks that you will see me carving comprise of 99.8 percent pure calcium calcite. Meaning that it just doesn’t get any purer or any better anywhere in the world. The fact is that Yule marble is a product of Contact Metamorphism – which is extremely rare amongst marbles – with the vast majority, including the famous Carrara, morphing from limestone to marble via Regional Metamorphism, which is a much less dramatic and intense process that occurs at much lower temperatures and pressures.

I mention all of this in order to draw attention to the unrivaled quality of the marble that I was fortunate enough to carve into the sixty-seven Collection Series Marble Sculptural pieces. And in carving the same stone over and over I was able to test my skills, and test the amazing properties of this semi-precious stone (yes, marble is just that) while I set ever higher standards for the both of us, until the marble was allowing me – nay encouraging me – to attempt things in stone I never would have believed. The main avenue for exploration into this field was born out by a long string of Hand Carved Marble Bowls, which although I didn’t know it at the time would go on to be perhaps the most easily recognizable of all The Collection Series categories. But whichever approach I took I found the same enticing results – the marble was beautiful, strong, dense and absolutely brimming with promise.

But before I show you the sculpture that the marble allowed me to carve, just notice the brutal scale of the blocks from whence they came. If you didn’t know it you would never guess that these wispy light bowls were actually carved right out of the center of these big heavy blocks.

Yes, a great deal of hard work went into each and every Collection Series Marble Sculpture – a fact that is quite often lost on many people, as I tend to carve the marble so very, very thin that I have to remind them from whence it came. And as you can see, from whence it came was a big old heavy block of solid semi-precious stone. However, none of this is news to Collection Series owners, who I am sure value their prized carving precisely for this reason. Seems I’m the only one carving this way, and now you have seen the enormity of the task involved, plus the skill, strength and experience it takes to carve at this level, and you can appreciate just exactly why it is that these are extremely rare sculptures indeed.

So Very Light

To be honest, sometimes people let out a little laugh when I use the term light to describe my fine art marble sculpture, but light it is – feather light in fact. That is, when you compare it to absolutely any hand carved marble sculpture, well, that I have ever seen. Because what you have to do is compare the comparative weight of sculptures that share similar proportions, i.e. equivalent length, width and height. Immediately the contrast becomes crystal clear. For a traditional, non-Curvilinear, solid marble sculpture of just 12 by 12 by 12 inches will weigh in at around 175 lbs. Yes, that’s a lot and way too much for the average person to easily pick up and move around. But now consider Pearl, one of my Maiden Collection Bowls. She was carved from a similar sized block and when I had finished with her she barely topped 11 lbs. Yes, just eleven small pounds, and although she remains today as the lightest and most petite bowl she does serve to illustrate the proportion of stone that I generally take out of the rough block. So please keep this in mind when looking at my signature Hand Carved Marble Bowls; and why it is that they are so very rare, indeed unique.

This is what I mean by “Light”. At just eleven pounds Pearl exemplifies the Curvilinear principle perfectly. Carved from a block weighing around 170 lbs she keenly illustrates the advantages of shedding all that extra weight. And so it is for Pearl, then so it is for every one of my Hand Carved Marble Bowls, no matter the size the proportions remain the same. Which means that when I refer to a 35, 40 or 50 pound marble bowl as being light I mean it in the sense that the block that it was sculpted from most likely weighed at least ten times that, if not more. Which also means that a traditional marble sculpture of similar dimension would indeed weigh many hundreds of pounds, proving extremely difficult to move and very permanent in nature.

Now let’s look at all this lightness put into action via my Collection Series Marble Sculpture. Here are a few photos not so much about the sculpture but the way in which it seamlessly blends its way into scene and becomes part of the occasion.

So Portable

And now we are reaching the point whereby I get to explain my Lifestyle Upgrade claims, and as you can see, I wasn’t wrong was I ? Bear in mind too that these pictures of bowls laden with deliciously ripe fruit, veggie preps and walnuts simply serve to illustrate just some of the things you can fill your Hand Carved Marble Bowl with. Much harder to successfully photograph are images of floating candles gently drifting around a bowl while emitting a glowing light that dances around the room. But you get the idea. In place of tangerines, apples and assorted fruit, you could easily imagine just how they would look if, say, you filled them with your favorite sea shells, or spectacular leaves found on a beautiful hike. In fact there is very little of beauty that doesn’t look amazing when given the spotlight and artfully displayed within the walls of a Hand Carved Marble Bowl. Pretty soon you will be finding all sorts of treasures with which you adorn your bowl, including favorite jewelry, handmade chocolate truffles, huge pine cones, and who knows what?

Finally, on the subject of my marble bowls, I would ask you to take note of just how robust they actually are, in that their rim is carved to be slightly thicker than the walls in order to add strength and structural integrity to the carving.

And Carved For Full Immersion in the Real World

So it is with the bowls, so it is with the sculptural pieces, as they too are carved to take their place alongside us in our real world. They also present a robust presence, are carved with lightness and structural integrity at their heart, and they also love to be picked up and moved around. And compared to similar marble sculpture carved on a similar scale, even the largest and bulkiest of The67 may be simply picked up and moved to a new location with comparative ease. Put it this way. I have a motto regarding my Collection Series Marble Sculpture and it goes like this; if I can’t pick up the finished piece and walk it out of my workshop, then I still have work to do. Consequently, every piece you see in my Collection Series sculpture gallery I picked up and walked out of my studio. So, if I can do it…. you know what I mean.

Well, I think that’s just about it. I hope that I have gone some way to convincing you that my signature Collection Series Marble Sculpture is worth a second look, because the more you learn about this revolutionary new form of marble sculpture I’m sure the more you will be impressed. And hopefully you will consider the purchase of a piece of the collection for yourself.

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I’ll leave you with some pictures of just a few of The67 Collection Series Marble Sculpture available for sale at THE KMJ Stoneworks, 111 Aspen Airport Business Center, Suite D, Aspen, Colorado this coming winter season. There will also be a lot of my limestone work on view too, along with wall art and a lot of nice, original hand carved gift ideas. Our hours are 1 to 6 PM each weekday throughout the season, and so, if you are planning to visit Aspen for a bit of world class skiing then I hope to see you soon.

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My Collection Series marble sculpture really does spring to life, once it is set free.

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And it’s not just the sculptural pieces within The Collection Series that like to get out and about, the bowls were literally carved in order to be easily picked up and moved around. And as with the sculpture, the bowls immediately react to their new surroundings by absorbing and projecting any and all available light to quite often spectacular results.

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Collection Series Hand Carved Marble Bowls

sculpture on the move

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A Lifestyle Upgrade? How My Marble Sculpture Works

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thanks for visiting martincooney.com

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MARTIN