The Journey

Paths in our lives
Lead to places
Yet uncharted,
Their curves
Like silent smiles
Filled with promise…

© Angela Verlaeckt Clark

A North American Indian heritage (Abenaki/Waban-Aki) and sculpting talents inherited from a Belgian Great-Grandfather are layers in a past that artistically influence my sculptures. The emotions I record on the stone’s surface act as my witness.

The simultaneous tranquil flow and energetic tension, combined with individual surface treatments, reflect a personal interpretation of earth’s rhythms, its subtle elegance, fluidity and fragility.

Abstract forms, their line, shape, texture, movement…the contrasts between softness and coarseness, fascinate me. Growing up in Rivière-Du-Loup, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, in Canada, I observed the effect of water’s erosion on stone; it was an education in arbitrary forms fashioned by nature.

After an art foundation course in Québec City, in the 1970’s, I spent a number of years attending various workshops, studying techniques specific to clay, resin, wax and wood. In the 1990’s, after working successfully in clay for many years, I extended my interest to stone, studying at the Ottawa School of Art, where I received the ‘Ted Marshall Memorial Scholarship’ for sculpture. Stone was a natural extension of my clay work.

London, England, 2001 was a ‘watershed moment’. My sculpture took new directions with a renewed sense of purpose and confidence. The stones became a personal witness, recording emotional and spiritual connections. I had a solo exhibition, exhibited works in galleries and with prestigious societies, including the Royal Society of British Artists and the Society of Women Artists. In 2003 I was admitted to The National Gallery of Canada, Library and Archives. The summer of 2004, in Italy, under private tutelage to a master carver, I learned new techniques and in November 2004, I became a published poet.

Virginia, USA, 2006; I set up studio once again beginning my work, writing, trying new techniques, such as fused glass and silver.

Ottawa, Canada, October 2008; I return home with a renewed sense of inspiration, anxious to face new challenges.

Japanese author Hikaru Okuizumi wrote in his 1993 book, ‘The Stones Cry Out’; ‘Even the smallest stone in a riverbed has the entire history of the universe inscribed upon it.’

I am drawn to that mysterious essence of continuity; my soul held within a moment, in a stone.