Carving Stone in Tuscany

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I needed to get grounded again and get my hands on some stone. Two years ago, a friend and I went to Carrara, Italy, and brought some marble back to Tuscany. I am lucky because he has given me permission to use his tools and his home to get to work on carving one of those beautiful Carrara marble pieces. [My tools are still in storage in the US.]

I am having an exhibit at Brenau University in Georgia next February and March. I really try to have at least one new work in each new exhibit, and this one will feature only my sculptures (maybe a few drawings… we curate later this summer).

Because I am painting in Florence, Italy, six days of the week, I will not have a lot of time to carve in the countryside outside of Firenze. But … progress is progress. I first chose the stone and measured it against my hand. Once back in my flat in Firenze, I began to sculpt a very loose maquette of my idea. I will refrain from spelling this out for the moment, but it is a figurative work.

It has been a while since I carved something this small, but I am ok with that for the moment. It is odd using someone else’s tools. My otherwise generous mentor Vasily Fedorouk (whose work will be included in my exhibit at Brenau, per my request) always warned other carvers: “There are three things that I do not share: My guns, my wife, and my tools.” But seriously, most of my problem is that I have been a bit scatterbrained while trying to collect what I need to work and I get sidetracked easily as I am playing hostess. So, for example, I have never used the 4-inch (or European equivalent size) grinder with the safety guard in place. The guard really cuts down on access to the stone. Also, my favorite blades are mounted with a flange on the inside so that I may slice a flat surface (without the attachment nut getting in the way). After these shots were taken by my friend Olivia, I did go back to the studio and find the handle since that helps me get the control I need to feel safe with this tool.

Each time I visit here, I stop into the neighbors to say hello. Giuliana often wants to know what I am up to and how long I will stay. She is kind to me, like an Italian mamma, and often has something for me. That weekend, she brought me two extension cords before I found one here. This place is not intended to have stone dust and chips around (so clean-up takes a bit longer), but at least the neighbors I asked did not mind the sounds at all.

I think you can see the penciled-in circle on the top of the stone. That is the head of my figure. I did not get much done last weekend, but I did not expect to. [A midday sprinkling stopped the painters for a wee bit, as well.] However, I did what I could with that one tool, so it was a good stopping point. I have one shot at this and I needed to take some time to see what tools I have at my disposal. Now, I must research what I can buy in Tuscany to supplement these tools (arnesi, in Italian, in case you were dying to know) and then decide whether or not I should buy here or have sent over from the US what I am missing. Not knowing if I will be able to stay in Italy means that I am still living the life of limbo and I find that annoying. I think, though, that I should just start building my life here and let the future know that I am here to stay and will manage to do it!

So, I leave you with an image shot not far from my carving site. This is a typical Tuscan view and I have yet to tire of it. Enjoy the poppies!

Darryl Pottorf Links Art Exhibit

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

My life in Florence, Italy, always seems surreal to me. I am not sure why. It is just on such a different wavelength than my life in America. Of course, I tend to be a bit reclusive when I am working in Texas, not living so close to a city. In Florence, it seems sometimes that the most unusual and interesting people pass by and sometimes engage with me, especially when I am streetpainting on Via Calimala.

So, one night there about midnight last June, a couple of my colleagues and I met renowned artist Darryl Pottorf and Mark Pace. Darryl said that he was just cruisin’ along and saw the streetart, which stopped him in his tracks and he went back to get Mark and show him. My friends and I spent almost every evening hanging out and drinking with these guys during the rest of their Florentine stay. Darryl is quite the animated storyteller – and he has so many stories to tell!

I am currently in North Carolina on a trip that mixes business with family visits. My brother Steve and I recently delivered to a new client (but seasoned art collector) my bronze and stone sculpture “Against the Dying of the Light.”.

I was able to time this adventure so that I could stop by Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia, to attend the art reception for my new friend Darryl’s exhibit titled “Links.”

Darryl’s strength lies in his compositions. He has the ability to take objects and images and arrange them in such a way as to delight the eye and give a sense of order, as well as creating confusion or mystery simultaneously. Darryl spoke about the importance of the circle in his work. He likes the connectivity of it and this shape seems to give him comfort. [I found that interesting as well since I see the world in triangles, although I know that in at least one of my artist statements, I mention that if you were to take an equilateral triangle and spin it from its center, you would see a circle.]





I feel a bit … something … sharing this next with you, but it does prove how generous a person and artist that Darryl Pottorf truly is. I sat on the carpeted floor of the gallery somewhat close to Darryl so that I could get some good photos of him during his speech without blocking the view of those behind me. Darryl had been speaking about his work and his long-time collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg, even sharing some stories about what he did with his dear friend Bob’s ashes.

Imagine my shock and surprise when Darryl looked down at me and pointed me out to everyone as he retold the story about meeting my colleague Johnny McGrogan, Simon Steele, and me on the streets of Firenze. And he said -- I kid you not -- that if there were an exhibit in the next room of our works, no one would come over to see his! [This was videotaped by the university, in case you think I am exaggerating.]

Seriously, I felt the blood rushing to my face and humbled beyond words. At dinner later, I thanked Darryl for being way too generous and teased him that he was not such a good businessman because an artist should not belittle himself and speak of other artists at his own show. Darryl tilted his head a bit confused, paused, and then laughed at said that “I cannot think of a better time to do it!” I thanked him, perhaps too often. But seriously, that was pretty amazing.


My favorite piece in the show was a dark one. I show it here – the composition with the spider on the figure’s head. Darryl said that when he is angry, he makes his darkest (but still good) pieces; however, if he writes on the art the name of the person who enticed his anger, he will not exhibit the work. Haha. The spider was one of his angry works -- and an interesting composition of found objects, charcoal, and other materials.


This last image was taken of me with Mark and Darryl at a nearby restaurant, 2 Dogs, after the reception. I feel very fortunate to have met such cool people who understand art and the art business way better than I and who are pretty down-to-Earth about it all.

Click on the highlighted words here to learn more about Darryl Pottorf and his current exhibit “Links” (going on through 21 November 2010).

If you would like to see more of my images of Darryl’s show, check out my Facebook Album (not sure if you must “befriend” me first or not …)