A friend recently said to me.  You are living your dream.  That is true!  I have been waiting a long time to concentrate on stone carving.

I try not to have a specific style.  My sculptures are not true to life.  I do not rule that out, but for now,  I prefer the abstract, or to be inspired by what I see in the stone.  As I travel from gallery to gallery it seems to me that many artists, working in all media, repeat the same work with variations.  Often, I like the pieces, but I try to make each of my sculptures truly one of a kind.

My sculptures develop in one of two basic ways.  I either search for a boulder within which is the finished  piece that I see  in my mind or, I follow an element in the stone that attracts me.  In both cases, I spend a lot of time studying the stone from all directions.  I mark the stone and make sketches.  Often, I make a clay or wax miniature to guide the carving.  When I lose my way , I put the piece aside, but in my view, and when the proper direction to go strikes me, I continue.  There are several  works in progress  in my gallery now.

Many of my sculptures are unnamed.  I do not want to influence the viewer.  My feeling is that the enjoyment of sculpture is related to the stone, the shape, the setting, the graceful lines, the negative spaces, the lighting, the shadows, etc.  The beauty of nature is important to me and many pieces incorporate areas of untouched stone so that the viewer can relate nature to man made.

Stone sculpture can be duplicated.  Even  Carrera marble can be cast like concrete.  But, there is no natural grain to marvel at, no defect in the stone to complicate the final contours, and  no translucency to add another dimension  and multiply the visual excitement.

Sculpture does not need to do anything, or be anything. It only has to be fun to look at. That is great!

Arthur D. Saltzman, Stone Sculptor