Photos 9 – 12.  “The stone below is pink marble.  This is a freeform sculpture I did on commission.  As typical of my work, the carving on this piece, except for the hole, is very minimal.  The pink color in this stone is extraordinary; it is delicious.  The last photo shows the top of the piece left natural; it looks like a mountain-scape in alpenglow.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 13 – 14.  “I like making bowls.  The kind of stone I find in Alaska is very complex in both color and pattern.  It is too complex for sculpture in the normal sense where the artist imposed shape onto a stone.  The traditional sculptor wants mono-colored stone gray, white, or black.  Alaskan stone, so busy with color and pattern, is not good for that application.  It is very good for simple designs in which the stone, more than the artist, does the speaking.  Big, rounded vessels are perfect.  When I polish the outside, they are bowls, meant for within the home.  Hopefully, they bring a bit of nature’s beauty and wonder into the living space, like bringing in a piece of the sunset or a flowing, clean river.  I prefer to leave the edge rough on my bowls.  This communicates stone and handmade to the viewer, that they are not looking at factory-produced plastic, glass, or ceramic.” The bowl in these two photos below is of a very rare type of Aphrodite Marble.  I only have a couple of pieces of it.  The unusual red patterning in the marble is of a rock type called breccia.  See the website for more info.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 15 – 16.  “Another bowl.  This one is of Kasaan Orange Marble.  This lovely marble will no longer be available because the road to the collecting site has been closed.  This bowl was done on commission.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photo 17.  “A small end-table utilizing Golden Aphrodite Marble.  The photo below does not well show the stone its warm pastels of pink and gold – but it does well show Karen’s cool forged steel base, with leaves.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photo 18.  “A Turtle Birdbath.  This is made out of Karheen Conglomerate not the same conglomerate as shown in photos 1 through 8.  This particular rock, I thought, looked like a turtle.  I added the eye.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 19 – 20.  “This is also Karheen conglomerate.  A chunk of stone off to one side looked to me like it might have an owl hiding within.  I dug it out.  Free to fly, the owl now sits perched on a pile of rocks, all living now in a California garden.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photo 21.  “A birdbath made out of Prince of Wales Greenstone, aka One Duck Greenstone.  This stone, of sedimentary origin, is characterized by its light-and-dark green banding.  I like to work the stone perpendicular to the banding, allowing rings to show in the curvature of a bowl.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photo 22.  “A Jupiter Marble garden sculpture.  This is another minimalist piece – not really carved, only polished.  Jupiter Marble is an exceptionally colorful marble, with lots of pinks, deep reds, and purples.  A story about the finding of the Jupiter Marble is on the website at “Jupiter Marble – Marble on the Edge.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 23 & 24.  “A Jupiter Marble garden sculpture/birdbath.  The woman who bought this also purchased the one above and, previously, three other Jupiter pieces.  They are part of the overall composition of her garden.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 25 – 27.  “This is pure whimsy.  I had a stone consisting of two congenially-joined concretions.  Concretions are a rather odd geologic structure always rounded – that occur in sedimentary rocks.  I saw a giant beetle in this rock, so I gave it some eyes.  Karen used scrap rebar to make the legs, antennae, and tail.  It is 20 high, 18 wide, and 21 nose to tail.  The piece achieves its purpose when observers get a good laugh.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photo 28.  “I sandblast engrave signs and memorial stones.  This is a sandblast engraved plaque, commissioned jointly by the U.S. Forest Service and the Nature Conservancy, to acknowledge a river restoration project.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 29 – 32.  “Most of my engraving is on memorial stones.  I made twelve last year.  The first two shown here are of Prince of Wales Greenstone.  The second two are of Aphrodite Marble.  Stone Arts of Alaska’s memorial stones can be found from Dutch Harbor, to Sacramento, to New York City. Most are on Prince of Wales Island.  The purchase and placement of these stones is often very important for the buyers, an act of both honor and closure.” Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.

Photos 33 and 34.  “On a different tack, below are two visually interesting fossils found last summer. Both are polished slabs.  The first is a large yellow snail found in Aphrodite marble.  Fossil snails (gastropods) are common in Aphrodite Marble but not with this striking color.  The second is fossil coral (hexagonaria, Devonian Age) that has a band of brassy-looking pyrite beneath.  It is unusual both geologically and visually.”  Gary McWilliams, Stone Arts of Alaska.