november 2025 Paintings, stoneworks & mosaics

Larry Harris

Sculpture  

Interest in stone carving consumed me after visiting the Louvre in Paris. Seeing the smoothness that resembled flesh with such humanistic details in stone gripped my mind in amazement. This was the career I was looking for all my life. I jumped into the challenge to learn the art. In 2016 cutting boulders started my first project. I built a cable saw to cut local boulders. After seeing several finished cuts that left concave lines, I decided to build a reciprocating saw. Purchasing diamond teeth I wielded them onto a steel plate and being familiar with mechanical matters, proceeded to construct a larger saw. Stone from the Eagle River Quarry has lots of quartz veining, while beautiful for benches and memorial stones, were not suitable for sculptures. For the first attempts in carving, limestone was purchased from Kansas. A half scale model of “Eve” awakening and her look of surprise was the goal. While under construction a woman saw it and exclaimed “that’s me!” and purchased it upon completion. Other works in limestone were “Leo”, a resting lion lying down and ”Winter”, a woman standing near a flaming pot. The minuscule fossilized crustaceans in limestone were not ideal. So marble was preferred with its smooth texture for figures. Italian marbles from Carrara and Bardiglio were used in caving two separate statues of “The young girl holding basket of fish”. A Turkish Pearl marble was used for the sculpture of “Rose”, a woman holding a rose up to smell. Another work in progress, “Hippy Chick” in Carrara marble is a woman in halter top and hip hugging skirt with a pitcher in hand watering a pot of flowers.  

Mary A.Harris 

Alaskan resident of 50 years Self Taught Artist in Training 

 Mary has lived in Anchorage, Sterling, Anchor Point, Seldovia, Fairbanks and finally made the Matanuska Valley home. She hasn’t settled into to one medium. A self taught artist in training. Her interests vary from Mosaics to Pastels, oil painting and watercolor. Landscapes and architecture seem to have captured her interest. Travels to Europe have inspired some recent works. Coming from a family of stone masons and being brought up on construction sites has formed a lasting impression and appreciation for quality craftsmanship. Being raised and schooled in old Spanish missions She finds familiarity in Old World building styles. Women are also a subject she often paints, liking to capture grace and beauty in quiet simplicity. Color is a very important factor that motivates her creativity. Often when choosing a subject, the primary motivation is color to portray the mood.