Martin Weiner

My sculptures have their roots in my experience both as a philosopher searching for the ideal and as a healer working with energy. Each sculpture is a living presence that captures the essence of a quality and embodies it in this three dimensional world. When I work, I immerse myself in a human emotion that I want to explore in my own life -- for example, joy or serenity -- and let it become alive within me. As I carve, rather than imposing my will or idea on the stone, I let the process be a dance
between the stone and the quality I am exploring as it carves itself. I am more like a facilitator and witness - placing my technical skills as a sculptor at the disposal of a larger force that is using me to create and express
itself in form.

To do this I select stones that are irregular in shape. I begin carving without having a finished piece in mind or embracing a model. I simply begin and "follow the stone"-- accentuating the valleys, carving a hole through to the other side where it feels appropriate, highlighting a feature somewhere else, etc. I work on different parts of the stone without any conscious idea where it is going or how it will end up. It requires great trust that somehow it will all come together in the end. If I have successfully gotten out of the way and allowed the process to happen, a finished sculpture emerges that captures that magic moment when energy becomes form, stepping over the threshold into this world while still vibrating with the vitality of another dimension.

My goal as a sculptor is to portray that moment with a purity and richness of form that permits many particular interpretations and evokes a personal experience in whoever is beholding it. My work is neither abstract nor figurative but highly suggestive of human paradigms that live within our spirit and are stimulated into motion by the presence of a sculpture.

Commissioned pieces are particularly exciting for me. I meditate with the client to get a feel for both the quality they would like to live in the presence of and have the piece embody as well as a sense of what 'gesture' or shape meaningfully captures this quality for them. It is a cooperative dance between the client, the stone, and my style as a sculptor that has produced pieces that have had remarkable effects in the lives of their owners.

Sandra Jones Campbell - paintings

These sculptures are available for purchase.
Please contact Suzy Johlfs at: 805.646.1555

Angel Dance
Utah alabaster
21.5" x 12.5" x 7"
$14,000

Family
Arkansas alabaster
15" x 9" x 11"
$16,000

Ode To Woman
Utah alabaster
17" x 11" x 6.5"
$12,000