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The last several years have been exceptional for Stone Arts of
Alaska. Gross sales in Alaska have increased every year --
including 2009 -- since our inception in 1998.
It is satisfying that so many of our customers are returnees. We are
building a regular and loyal clientele at our Craig, Alaska location,
people who not only return but bring family and friends.
BOOK:
Hot Coffee and Other Wild Goose
Tales
By Gary McWilliams
Finally completed and now for sale, this book is
a compilation of true stories set in Latin America, Russia, the
American West, and Alaska. A fair number of the stories are
geology oriented. Some are about minerals and mining in
Colorado. Some are about finding stone by boat in Alaska. For reviews and further description of
its contents, look up on Amazon.com. It may be purchased from Amazon
or -- for a signed, latest version -- from the author. See
Contact Us
for contact info. For more information about the book and its
author, as well as some tales not included in the book, see the new
website:
www.hotcoffeeandotherwildgoosetales.com. It will
also have additional photos for the stories in the book.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Two separately written newspaper articles have
recently appeared about Stone Arts of Alaska. Find with Google or
other search engine.
(1.) Juneau Empire, June 29, 2006, Elizabeth
Bluemink, "Carving Beauty" Gary McWilliams.
(2) Ketchikan Daily News, July 18, 2009, Leila
Kheiry, "From Beach Rocks to Stone Art." This story was later picked up and distributed
nation-wide by Associated Press.
ART SHOW
Linda Abbott of Ketchikan hosted an art
show for Stone Arts of Alaska and Tactile From Nature. Gary
McWilliams of Stone Arts of Alaska exhibited outside works in stone.
Our friend, Gail Person, of Tactile From Nature, exhibited indoor
lamps. To see Gail’s lamps with our stone, go to our
Functional Art page. To see all her
work, go to her website: www.tactilefromnature.com.
Linda’s outdoor garden is something to behold.
On a hillside, with the blue Pacific and green forested islands as a
backdrop, her colorful garden provides one of the nicest settings
imaginable for the showing of outdoor stone art. The photographs
below focus on the setting. Look under Sculpture
and Garden Art to see closer
photographs of the stone work.
“EMERGENCE”
A landmark was the completion, and the
subsequent sale, of a stone sculpture I christened “Emergence.” I
had worked on, and suffered over, this female form for several years.
My vision for the piece from the outset was of some relation between
female and nature -- of female emerging from the primordial – of
female rising from the waters, the lily pads, the mists.
The color of the raw stone, an exceptional piece
of pink marble from Prince of Wales Island, suggested something
female. Not solely pink, it had bands of yellow, orange,
and green as well. The sculpture is mounted on One Duck Greenstone, a
stone that, when polished, clearly suggests waves on water.
“Emergence” now resides in the Los Gatos, California home of Ed
Rossi. The photo below shows Gary McWilliams at work on “Emergence”.
See Sculpture for photos of the finished
piece.
MUSHROOMS
Karen and I like to collect and eat wild mushrooms. We are particularly fond of chanterelles. But I also like to
carve wild mushrooms. The Circus Conglomerate works especially
well because its red spots suggest the well known Amanita Muscaria.
I carved several mushrooms, including a
small pair set by the pool of a red sandstone birdbath. Another
pair is larger. A third individual mushroom is big enough to sit on, hence a “Toadstool”.
TABLES
Tables with Alaskan stone tops and Alaskan wood
or forged steel bases have become a mainstay of our business.
Typically, a buyer first picks out the stone they want from our
selection of tops and then commissions my partner, Karen Martel, to do the base. Done
according to their specifications, her elegant, individually
designed bases sell the tables as much as do the exotic stones.
We are always
prospecting for new kinds of Alaskan stone. We have found a half dozen new
varieties for table tops over the last several years. One of the fun things about
finding a new stone is that you get to name it. Some new stones are:
Green Stream Marble, Orange River Stone, Marble Island Meta-conglomerate. These join such veterans as: Aphrodite Marble,
Jupiter Marble, One Duck Greenstone, Circus Conglomerate. Buyers now have many choices of
stone, all with different colors and patterns. A few of our
newer tables are shown below. The wood work is by Karen Martel. These are all sold but we can make
similar. See Functional Art for more tables.
Large table with greenstone panels.
Mosaic panel for table above.
Large Aphrodite Marble Table
NEW LAPIDARY STONE.
Three new stones are available for the lapidary artist. All are
from Prince of Wales Island. To see other stones, view our
Lapidary Stone page.
The first, Chocolate Chip Stone, is composed of
little hematite spheres embedded in calcite. In cross section, the spheres
are about the size and color of chocolate chips. Yum.
The second, Alligator Stone, is a composition of
white crinoid fossils embedded in dark limestone. The crinoid stems,
when cross cut, are circular. When cut lengthwise, they can look like an alligator’s mouth. A most whimsical stone.
The third new stone, Piedmontite, is wine purple.
It can be solid in color. Or it may be patterned with black and
white minerals. A manganese epidote,
it is a very uncommon mineral.
NEW NATURAL SCULPTURE
We at Stone Arts of Alaska are always on the
lookout for natural sculpture. We sell most of what we find but, of
course, retain special pieces for our own collection. “Eskimo Girl”
was found this year. Come visit her in Bellingham, along with “Nessie”,
“Spider Man”, the “Two Frenchmen”, “Cyclops”, and “Decomposing
Beethoven”. Open our
Natural Sculpture page to view some of our
collection pieces.
Eskimo Girl
I hope you enjoy your journey
through this web-site
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