• created 2005
• kootenay marble
• 14”H x 5”W x 5”D (36cmH x 13cmW x 13cmD)
• private collection, Kelowna, BC, Canada

Michael Binkley carved this original fine art stone sculpture from a variety of white marble that is quarried in the south Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. This marble has an ivory hue, with veining of sage green.

Binkley used a matte finish on this sculpture so the surfaces are silky smooth to the touch, but the marble can hold shadow effectively. The artist feels that this type of surface treatment is crucial for his figurative works, as shadows describe the details of the composition instead of reflecting light as a polished surface would.

This sculpture was commissioned by a husband as a special gift to his wife. They have a family of three children, but when they wanted to start their family, they experienced the pain of losing their first two children, one was still born and the other was a miscarriage. These two children are represented as a rose bloom and a tight bud on a stem as a relief on the wife’s breast over her heart. The husband and surviving two daughters and son are hugging each other in a circle.The adults’s heads touching lovingly and the children look all gaze up at their parents. All the figures’ legs blend into one column. There is a lot of symbolism packed into this small sculpture!