Recently and for the first time, I assembled the Portfolio of Carvings, that you are about to see, in a large three ring binder format, in order to illustrate the broad range of my work. I now present the four parts of this document for you in pdf format. Bear in mind however, due to the industrial nature of much of the stone carving that I have produced these past 22 years, many tons of stone carved by the very hands that type this, of course, remain unphotographed to this day. Hopefully however, these pictures will give you a good idea of just what I have been up to for over two decades now.

So let’s begin with my signature fine art marble carvings: The 67 Collection Series Colorado Yule Marble Scuptures. With 18 pages to scroll through, the pdf should give you a clear idea of where the collection stands in terms of sculpture sold, and sculpture still available for purchase, should you feel so inclined.

So, please do scroll on down past Beached Boat, shown above, all the way back to the early days, when the Collection Series concept was just taking hold.

But now we turn our attention away from the brilliant white of Colorado Yule marble, to the moody and expressive properties of limestone, with two in particular taking center stage: the silky-smooth Kansas Creme, perfect for detailed carvings, and the expressive, creative Oklahoma Winterset, the limestone that thinks its a sandstone. Three great neighboring states. Three great complementary carving stones.

Again, please scroll through all six pages of my limestone sculpture to get the whole picture, as they don’t all fit in the pdf window. Also, these half-dozen pages don’t really cover the half of it, if you consider all of the industrial architectural carvings that I churned out both here in Colorado and over in Bath, England. Plus, it’s just not possible to photograph everything, there’s just so much of it that it soon becomes redundant. I can cast my mind to many a carving, both large and small, whereby no picture was ever taken, or at least none remains, so far as I know.

Now we go behind the scenes to peek at the sometimes harsh realities of carving stone at a professional/industrial level. There are just two pages due to the limited time that I had in putting this portfolio together, and perhaps I will expand it someday with a more detailed look at the carving process, but until then this should give you some sort of idea of just what it takes to carve marble and limestone to these proportions. Although nothing can really capture the action when working full swing, flat out and hell for leather, as so much dust is produced that photography is practically impossible in such extreme conditions – so I’ll leave you to imagine the dust and the noise I endure to produce my work. But I don’t mind. In fact, I love it. Besides, the roughing out phase of carving is usually over pretty quick, and that’s the dusty bit. After that it’s really quite a relaxing activity. Anyway, here’s a two page glimpse into stone carving reality.

Finally, here I present several of the various installations and commissions that can be found at various points around the Roaring Fork Valley, if you know where to look. It’s six pages this time, so you may have to scroll down the pdf to get the whole picture, as it were.

And while I, at one time, really enjoyed this sort of large scale – or monumental project, these days I am quite happy to scale things down and apply my energies to the ‘light, portable and carved for full immersion in the real world’ carvings and sculpture that now fill THE KMJ Stoneworks, 111 Aspen Airport Business Center, Suite D, Aspen Colorado 81611. And I hope to see you there one day.

Well that’s it for this post. I hope it helped explain just what it is that I do and that someday our paths will meet so I’ll be able to show you my stone carving ‘in the round’ as it were. For although these pictures tell a story of their own, it is only by viewing my work in person – touching and feeling its texture and seeing how the shadows morph and change before your eyes, as the light works its magic on the stone – that the carvings come to life.

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Thank you for visiting martincooney.com

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MARTIN

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