New Work in Marble

(Introduction to exhibition at John Martin Gallery, London, September 2007)
This is a series of works in Portugese marble from Estremoz, a region I was introduced to by a fellow sculptor. It is an amazing landscape: vast holes in the ground, mountains of spoil and giant blocks of clean sliced marble stacked everywhere. We spent a few days selecting the most interesting pieces – a week later a lorry arrived in Cornwall with eight tons of marble.

Working this beautiful stone has been a wonderful revelation as it behaves so differently to the Hornton stone that I have carved almost exclusively for the last ten years. The marble is denser and harder than Hornton, though easily bruised by careless carving: its translucence is something completely new to me.