Stone Sculpture
Southern Indiana is blessed with an abundant supply of sculpture-quality limestone featured in the annual Indiana Limestone Symposium. The 2101 Symposium provided an opportunity to experience figure carving for the first time. All of the completed projects shown below were started in subsequent years of the Symposium.
Ruby is a Nymph discovered in a block of Indiana limestone by Larry Thibos in June, 2014. Subsequent excavations under the direction Mr. John Fisher, master sculptor, revealed a comely figure and serene countenance envied by all.
Persephone is a modern interpretation of the ancient Greek myth depicting the Earth's return to life in Spring as she resists Hade's grasp from the underground at Winter's end. The figure was inspired by the famous sculpture "Abduction of Proserpina (a.k.a. Persephone)" by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1622).
The Demon is a 3-sided relief carving of a man, a woman and the demon that haunts them. The male figure was inspired by the random features of a fractured block of limestone. Carving the male figure produced additional features that inspired the female form. The remaining portion of the block suggested the cause of their unease was a wolf-like demon.
This limestone figure was inspired by the Greek myth of sirens described by Homer in The Odyssey. Sirens were dangerous creatures who lured nearby sailors to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island by singing enchanting music. It was said the siren’s beguiling song could even charm the winds.
Madonna and Child
Madonna is a stone figure depicting an idealized, virtuous and beautiful woman holding her infant child. The figure was inspired by the natural shape of a stone discovered when walking though the Great Rift Valley in the Dana Nature Reserve in Jordan.
