ARTIST’S STATEMENT

EX NIHILO   -   The Lake Horizon Triptych

Art is never about just one thing.  This stone triptych began as a conversation with Mark and Emily Koczela about the nature of stone itself, the tools and techniques of carving, the shapes and forms of design possibilities and the many things that inspired the vision for the artwork which they were entrusting to me.  It became clear as we talked that, while all of these things are important, what matters most to them are not “things” but God, the Creator of All Things.  God who creates everything EX NIHILO (literally “from no-thing”) makes all things through Himself, not from anything else: 

John 1:3 “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”

Since the inspiration for this piece is the presence of God in and through creation, the big question became how to select and interpret imagery that directs attention past the carvings themselves to the unseen source beyond them.  The fact that creation is a mystery that both reveals and veils the Creator has been central to both theology and philosophy for aeons. 

The horizon of Lake Michigan, which is clearly visible near their home, is a natural focal point, as well as a natural metaphor about the presence and transcendence of God.  What in nature evokes the reality of the unseen more powerfully than the vanishing point between the sky and a vast body of water? Everything leads up to that line, and everything comes from it, although it is not a “thing” at all.

So, while looking at these carvings, one’s eye goes to and from the horizon and encounters diverse forms (things) but it is always directed back to what is not a thing, the nothingness of the horizon, and then on to Someone rather than something, Who is Being Itself.

From the beginning, Mark and Emily were interested in a very large work of art, 12 feet or more in length.  Stones of this kind weigh roughly 600 lbs. per cubic foot.  A single piece of art in three sections is a practical option that also has the traditional symbolic value of suggesting the Trinity. All three stones together weigh approximately 1,100lbs.

I am delighted that Mark and Emily have found a perfect new home for the Ex Nihilo Triptych at the Catholic Ecology Center.  This work has been a labor of love for them and for me.  May it always lift hearts and minds to our Creator. 

February  2025                                                                                      AMDG      

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ON THE MAKING OF 

“EX NIHILO”

THE LAKE HORIZON TRIPTYCH

Skilled Montana  quarrymen (or stone cowboys, as they like to be called) took more than a year to find a formation with layers large and solid enough to provide these three massive slabs.  Using only levers, chisels, and hammers, they custom quarried it from May to October, finishing the last and largest stone just as the weather began to change.  By November the rock face was out of reach.  

      To get each stone safely down the steep face of the cliff, our stone cowboys built a temporary system of wooden rails with several switchbacks at good landing points, and then slid the stones down one at a time, controlling the descent with ropes secured to anchor points on the cliffs above.  They truly went above and beyond the call  of duty while persevering to get these unusually large slabs safely to the flatbed truck waiting at the foot of the cliffs.  

        The right and left stones are an example of “book matching” which is extremely rare in naturally-split stone this large.  The middle stone has a contrasting color due to the different combination of minerals at a slightly lower strata of the cliffside. 

The surface of each stone has a naturally occurring patina, like a glaze on pottery. When this multicolored layer is carved through, the unoxidized black interior of the stone creates an intense contrast, which makes the carving standout vividly. 

All three are an unusually ancient type of metamorphic slate found only in Montana.  Geologists estimate that it was laid down as ocean sediment more than 1 billion years ago, before the Rocky Mountains and long before the diversity of life that arose during the Cambrian period.  There are no fossils in this formation since it predates all but the simplest unicellular organisms.

Because it is much harder than most sedimentary rock, and because it is old enough to have become metamorphic, it is like ceramic that has been heated to the point that it becomes glass.  The hardness and durability of the stone means that this artwork has the potential to last for thousands of years. 

All the carving was done using hand-held rotary and pneumatic tools that use diamond and garnet grit as an abrasive cutting edge.  All the design work was done using pencils. Some details are highlighted in 24 karat gold leaf.

Abstract Celtic designs mix freely with detailed botanical design elements, bookending the triptych in a way that suggests the ornate calligraphic penmanship at the beginning and end of an ancient scroll.  The interlocking Celtic spirals and vegetation give way to birds, clouds, and sun-struck water as the horizon itself becomes the central line of the whole design.

The scroll-like effect of this piece brings to mind that in the Eastern Rite Catholic Tradition, an icon is not made, it is written.