So, some folks may be wondering why I have been a bit of a ghost lately . . . well, now that William E. Lori has been properly installed as the new Archbishop of Baltimore, I can reveal what has kept me strapped to the carving easel these last couple of weeks.
The pieces were carved from Swiss Pear wood, a particularly tight grained European hard wood, which can handle the degree of fine detail necessary to properly illustrate all of the heraldry present in the new coat of arms. The hexagonal one, approximately 12″ tall, fits into a slot in the Archbishop’s cathedra (or chair – this is where the term “cathedral” comes from) in the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on North Charles Street in downtown Baltimore. The Other larger one (about 24″ tall) hangs above the cathedra in the Basilica on Cathedral Street in downtown Baltimore.
Each piece took over 80 hours to carve, paint and gild and to be completed under a tight deadline. so . . . lots of work and little sleep. A third coat of arms has been commissioned and will hang in the lobby of the Catholic Center across from the Basilica. It will be completed in the next month.
An article by Mary Gail Hare mentions one of these coat of arms and can be found in the Wednesday, May 16th issue of the Sun paper.
So, I’m wrapping up a series of restoration jobs for a really incredible home renovation/restoration in Baltimore. The homeowners are really cutting NO corners in recreating their Victorian era home. All of of the marble was in pretty bad shape, but they had a real interest in refurbishing rather than replacing those pieces that were salvageable. Below are a few Before/progress/after shots of the completed projects that I undertook under the the supervision of general contractors extraordinaire, Tim Horjus and Nicholas Cairns of C & H Restoration & Renovation, LLC. I’d say they have more artisans working on that house than any home in Baltimore has seen in 150 years.
Fireplace
Fireplaces really get a A LOT of wax and soot buildup over the years, particularly their mantles– being a flat surface they catch a lot of scratches, gouges and extra wax from candles. See the finished product here.
Airlock floor and steps cleaning
A really thorough cleaning made all the difference with this air lock. I had some help from the folks at Roc Doc with this one. The stone is a combination of White Carrara and Tennessee Cedar. More on that here.
Vanity refurbishing
This piece was really the “diamond in the rough,” in terms of the original stonework. When I got to it, it had been de-installed and was being shuffled around the site. With a lot of TLC and hand-honing, I was able to remove most of the obvious staining and return it to respectability. The brass legs were restored and nickel plated by Chris LaVoie.
I recently carved a matching marble keystone to replace a missing one from a fireplace in the original building at Fort McNair, which is currently being restored. Yes, this did entail A LOT of hand polishing.
Fort McNair is the current headquarters of the Army’s Military District of Washington and home of the National Defense University, as well as the official residence of the US Army’s vice chief of staff. Formerly, its original building was the location of the trial of the conspirators behind the Lincoln assassination. See more on its history here.
Some of you may remember the building(below left) from the movie The Conspirator(below right).
The news is out for my next show, coming up this summer. I will have work included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery Anniversary Show, 40 Under 40: Craft Futures. The opening will be July 20th at 10am, with the curator’s talk at 12 noon, followed by a catalog signing.
The show will run at the Renwick through February 2013, after which it will tour nationally at locations to be announced. You can find more information about the show and all of its artists on the show’s webpage here. Download the full show information and press release here.
Atlantic Custom Carving was really excited to replace these severely damaged marble steps for the front door air lock of the beautiful row house of, fellow artist, Rene Treviño and his partner, Paul Frey. Much of the credit here must go to the fabricators and installers at Hilgartner Natural Stone Company. Especially for getting me the book matched marble I wanted– meaning the stone’s veins carry from piece to piece, giving the illusion of each step being one solid piece of stone. Click through to see the final product– gorgeous!
I recently returned the Kelly family’s favorite stone to their garden.
It was really fun to carve these letters that I designed myself based on a few other “celtic-looking” typefaces, as per the client’s request. Carving letters into a natural surface is always challenging, but I always love the look of it. See also, the address in the marble wall of my own home. 
Money Pit II included in 2012 WPA Exhibition & Auction
My page on the WPA Select website. The gala event will be Saturday, March 3, 2012, 6:00-MIDNIGHT.
Proceeds support artists and WPA programs and exhibitions
Harold Vogel
Looking forward to 2012, but the stone industry lost an icon last year. Harold Vogel, probably best known for his work designing and originating the CIA Memorial Wall, passed away. Vogel also played an important role as a carver and supervisor at the National Cathedral, the US Capitol, The Kennedy Center, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove, to name a few. Vogel founded Manassas Granite & Marble, Inc. where I served my apprenticeship under Vogel’s apprentice, Tim Johnston. Information about them both and their work at the CIA can be found on the CIA website.
Harold’s last interview was published by Building Stone Magazine in the fall of 2011, shortyly before his death.
R.I.P.
If you can’t make it to your own art show, the next best thing is having some of that art featured on the gallery’s homepage. Having a curator take the time to make sense of said work is also a plus:
Chosen by Edward Holland:
As an artist that chooses to make stone his primary medium, Sebastian Martorana’s pop-oriented sculptures and abstract wall works can bring to mind images of great monoliths, monumental arches, vaulted ceilings, Neolithic totems and tombstones. The works are neither classical, post-minimal nor post-modern in their usage of the sculptural materials of antiquity. Martorana chooses instead to be self-reflexive in his choice of subject matter, looking to the objects and actions of his everyday life for inspiration. The blank wall reliefs and pop-ish everyday objects, rendered in stone, are Un-commissioned Memorials to the artist’s experiences, loves, phobias, celebrating the vagaries of daily existence.
Sebastian Martorana received his BFA in illustration from Syracuse University, where he also studied sculpture. After graduating he became a fulltime apprentice in a stone shop outside of Washington, DC before coming to Baltimore to earn his MFA in sculpture at MICA. His current studio is part of the stone shop of Hilgartner Natural Stone, Co. in downtown Baltimore. Mr. Martorana’s work was recently selected to be featured in “40 Under 40,” the 40th Anniversary exhibition of Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The artist lives and works in Baltimore, MD.
The above is a portion of the 80WSE press release on their website, the full 80WSE press release can be read here.
80WSE Presents, curated by Peter Campus, Michael Cohen, Edward Holland and Hugh O’Rourke;
November 29th – December 22nd, 2011
Opening Reception: Tuesday, November 29th, 6 – 8 pm
Artists: Paul Carney, Max Gimblett, Sebastian Martorana, Matt Quinn, Viktoria Sorochinski, Dan Torop, Ivette Zighelboim
Most recently, I traveled to New York City to install a show at New York University’s (NYU) 80WSE (Washington Square East) Gallery.
The show will run from November 29, 2011 through December 22, 2011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
If you happen to be in the Big Apple, stop on by.