I almost titled this piece “ Justine”; a long time friend of mine. Justine has helped my wife and I move several times over the years. Being a woodworker and a stone sculptor, I have a plentiful collection of wood and stone and metal. She, as she is helping us move would often comment or groan over the material we were moving. On the last move, near the end, she points to a large piece of stone and in a sarcastic kind of voice says to me, “ So, whatya gonna do with this?”.
I didn’t see exactly what she was pointing at, however what I was looking at was this piece of alabaster sitting on this piece of Port Orford cedar. And I knew right away, that the stone and wood piece would go together in some sculpture in the future. Time passes and I look and I think and slowly, over some time, the stone looks like a flame or a fire and the wood is to hold this flame, unburnt.
The stone is a broken off piece from a previous sculpture, “Hello”.The wood is a cutoff from a post for a Japanese style garden gate that my teacher and I built in Bellevue, Washington.