Artist's Statement:

Nothing engages me as intensively as stone carving.

The rock instructs what must be done to sculpt it. The dialog commences once the piece of stone is purchased and communication is established.

The creative process begins intuitively. Preconceived notions often do not work out. An unanticipated fault in the stone will dictate a change of direction, forcing a departure from the original concept and a revision of past conversations between the sculptor and rock. Cool headed analysis must then take precedence.

Superimposed on all other thoughts arethe natural features, never before seen by anyone, are now exposed to public view. The task of shaping the stone to the sculptor's vision range from puny to crucial compared to the cataclysmic forces that created the rock in the first place.

Clay culpting preceded stone and provided an all-important underpinning. The computer painting in an ongoing and parallel endeavor.

John Merchant

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