Artist's Insight
In recognition of my incredible friend "Ben" who, as part of his recovery climbed to the top of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain to climb in the UK. Like climbing the mountain, "An Addict's Climb In Recovery" is the most demanding of all.
At the top of the mountain Ben collected a single rock to act as a reminder of his achievement. Very soon after meeting, Ben gifted me his rock, knowing I found solace from my medical conditions and symptoms through Stone Sculpture. This precious gift was in recognition of the strength of friendship we had built and the level of 'sharing' we both felt willing to offer.
This was obviously an extremely emotional moment for the two of us, Ben giving away his 'medal of honor' and me receiving it. Ben asked me what I would do with the rock to make it in to a sculpture, to which I quickly responded "Absolutely nothing, it is perfect as it is!". Instead, I immediately located a piece of scrap Burr Elm from a wood turner which I believed would be ideal to present the rock to the world. True enough, without any adjustment, the rock stood proud and tall on top of it's new base.
I continued to refine the base and in the process, to my amazement, a 'foot' started to appear. I then worked to further enhance the 'foot' questioning whether it was "The Foot Of The Mountain" or "The Foot Of The Climber".
The resulting Sculpture is deliberately called " BEN's 'nevis' " as to me the man is far bigger than the mountain he physically climbed and will continue to climb throughout his recovery!
Charity: WithYou
Materials: Granite Stone collected from the top of Ben Nevis, Burr Elm Woodturner's Off Cut
Size: (w) 19cm; (d) 7cm; (h) 19cm
Weight: 0.749Kg
