May 1986. Green granite, painted steel. Dimensions: 58 × 45 × 10 in (147 × 114 × 25 cm).
The AuSable Totem Series, begun in 1986, uses green granite from the quarry at AuSable Forks, New York, split into thin, rough-edged slabs whose naturally pointed forms suggest geological spires. The series extends an idea I first explored in my Totems of 1977 and returned to after moving back East in the early 1980s. The original inspiration came from the tall, eroded rock formations I encountered after moving West to Laramie, Wyoming. I was particularly struck by the way these vertical spires often rose from sloping accumulations of eroded and fallen material at their bases. In AuSable Totem I, that geological relationship is distilled into a stark sculptural structure: a single upright shard of granite rising from low, truncated triangular forms of steel.
The AuSable Totems are distinguished from the earlier works by the flat, slab-like character of the stone and the heavy, planar steel elements that anchor and frame it. Rather than disguising the means of attachment, I made the stainless-steel pins joining stone and steel deliberately prominent. They function structurally while also becoming visual punctuation, emphasizing the meeting of natural and fabricated forms. This direct expression of assembly continues a longstanding concern in my work—the physical and visual relationship between stone and steel—while the simplified, upward-thrusting composition gives the sculpture a distinctly geological and totemic presence
May 1986. Green granite, painted steel. Dimensions: 58 × 45 × 10 in (147 × 114 × 25 cm).
The AuSable Totem Series, begun in 1986, uses green granite from the quarry at AuSable Forks, New York, split into thin, rough-edged slabs whose naturally pointed forms suggest geological spires. The series extends an idea I first explored in my Totems of 1977 and returned to after moving back East in the early 1980s. The original inspiration came from the tall, eroded rock formations I encountered after moving West to Laramie, Wyoming. I was particularly struck by the way these vertical spires often rose from sloping accumulations of eroded and fallen material at their bases. In AuSable Totem I, that geological relationship is distilled into a stark sculptural structure: a single upright shard of granite rising from low, truncated triangular forms of steel.
The AuSable Totems are distinguished from the earlier works by the flat, slab-like character of the stone and the heavy, planar steel elements that anchor and frame it. Rather than disguising the means of attachment, I made the stainless-steel pins joining stone and steel deliberately prominent. They function structurally while also becoming visual punctuation, emphasizing the meeting of natural and fabricated forms. This direct expression of assembly continues a longstanding concern in my work—the physical and visual relationship between stone and steel—while the simplified, upward-thrusting composition gives the sculpture a distinctly geological and totemic presence
