Material Matters I Carving in Stone
At Roche Court Sculpture Park, we are proud to show a wide range of contemporary stone carvings which extend the scope of possibilities in this ancient practice. These works demonstrate skilled craftsmanship, mastery of balance and form, and a deep knowledge and consideration for the material's geological properties.
Edmund de Waal
Edmund de Waal
at night, 2025
Belgian black fossil stone
58 x 180 x 51 cm
22 ⅘ x 70 ⅘ x 20 in.
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Edmund de Waal's new works in stone celebrate the material, and the many aspects of its composition, including in this case, amazing fossils. The title of this work refers to Osip Mandelstam’s poem, 'I was washing at night out in the yard’.
I was washing at night out in the yard—
the heavens glowing with rough stars.
A star-beam like salt upon an axe,
the water barrel brimful and cold.
A padlock makes the gate secure,
and conscience gives sternness to the earth—
hard to find a standard anywhere
purer than the truth of new-made cloth.
A star melts in the barrel like salt,
and the ice-cold winter is blacker still,
death is more pure, disaster saltier
and earth more truthful and more terrible.
Edmund de Waal’s artistic and written practice has broken new ground through his critical engagement with the history and the potential of ceramics, as well as with architecture, music, philosophy and poetry. De Waal was on the Advisory Committee for the Royal Mint, and was Trustee of the V&A Museum between 2011 and 2019. In 2011, he was awarded an OBE, and in 2021, was appointed a CBE for his Services to the Arts.
Edmund de Waal’s current exhibition, Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto is set to go to The Hepworth Wakefield in November 2025 until May 2026.
Peter Randall-Page
Peter Randall-Page
Phyllotaxus, 2013
Kilkenny limestone
257 x 188 x 188 cm
101 ½ x 74 x 74 in.
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In Phyllotaxus, Fructus and Corpus, Peter Randall-Page has carved intricate markings on the surface of huge Kilkenny limestone blocks, inspired by fossils and objects found in nature. His practice has always been informed and inspired by the study of natural phenomena and its subjective impact on our emotions. In recent years, his work has become increasingly concerned with growth. His sculptures seem to emerge from the earth as relics and fossils of the ancient natural world.
Randall-Page has undertaken numerous large scale commissions and exhibited widely, including a major solo exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2009-10). His work is held internationally in public and private collections including Japan, South Korea, Australia, USA, Germany and the Netherlands, and in the permanent collections of the Tate and the British Museum.
Peter Randall-Page
Corpus, 2009, Phyllotaxus, 2013 and Fructus, 2009
Kilkenny limestone
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Bridget McCrum
Bridget McCrum
Torso IV, 1997
Clipsham
69 x 23 x 28 cm
2ft 3 x 9 x 11 in.
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Having trained as a painter at Farnham College of Art in the 1950s, Bridget McCrum (b.1934) turned to sculpture in her forties, and from 1980 began to work primarily in stone. Her birds and figures, like those shown here at Roche Court, beautifully capture the essence of nature, rhythm, form, and the natural contours of landscape. Working primarily in stone, her inspiration is drawn, both consciously and subconsciously, from ancient remains, archaeology, standing stones and objects that have withstood the test of time.
Her work is included in many international collections including: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum; Rolls Royce Aero Engines, Bristol; Lismore Castle, Co Cork; HSBC, Malta; Spencer Stuart, London, and the Golden Door Foundation, San Diego. Her work is held in private collections in the USA, Canada, the Middle and Far East, Europe and the UK. Bridget McCrum lives and works in Devon and Gozo in Malta.
Bridget McCrum
Knife Bird, 2001
Carrara marble
122 x 37 x 10 cm
48 x 14 ½ x 4 in.
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Tim Harrisson
Tim Harrisson
Rotherly Stones I & II, 2016
Purbeck marble
137 x 180 x 5 cm
54 x 70 ⅘ x 2 in.
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Tim Harrisson
DRIFT, 2006
Chicksgrove limestone and Carrara marble
38 x 84 x 37 cm
14 ⁹⁄₁₀ x 33 x 14 ½ in.
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Sited in the Summer House at Roche Court, DRIFT and Rotherly Stones demonstrate Tim Harrisson’s exploration of place, history and the spatial relationship between forms.
Sculptor, draughtsman and printmaker, Tim Harrisson was born in Essex in 1952. His practice is directly influenced by the formation of the landscape from a geological perspective. Harrisson studied at Hammersmith College of Art (1969-1970) and Norwich Art School (1970-73). After graduating from Byam School of Fine Art in 1975, he worked as a woodsman and welder. In 1988, he was a Sculptor in Residence at Red House Museum, Christchurch and in 2013, was elected to the Royal West of England Academy.
Tim Harrisson
DRIFT, 2006
Chicksgrove limestone and Carrara marble
38 x 84 x 37 cm
14 ⁹⁄₁₀ x 33 x 14 ½ in.
Sebastian Brooke
Sebastian Brooke
Let Him Accept the Water of Life with Thanks, 1999
Bath stone
103 x 47 x 10 cm
40 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 4 in
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Accipiat aquam vitae, gratis.
A quote from Revelations 22 verse 17.
"And let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."
Sebastian Brooke is a letter-cutter and stone-carver based in Wales.
Since 2006, he has been working on the massive project, MEMO, on the Isle of Portland which is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. This stone monument will be a Mass Extinction Monitoring Observatory. The project aims to draw attention to the ongoing extinction of species worldwide.
His work is included in collections at both Oxford University and Harvard University.