I’ve been interested in sculpture since I was a young boy. I remember collecting pot metal from the door handles of junked cars, melting it in a coffee can over a wood fire, and pouring the molten metal over bunches of dead grasses that I had collected. The results were unique and visually interesting. I also remember being fascinated with the furniture of Wendell Castle and the sculpture of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and later, Constantin Brancusi.

I never did much with my artistic inclinations, perhaps because I had seen, first-hand, how economically perilous the life of an artist was – both of my parents were artists. But I did, in my late twenties, create this small piece, which I still have. It was the first and, until my trip to Touchstone in 2007, my only sculpture.

It is sculpted from Jamaica Dogwood, a tropical hardwood, and has a river rock inside it. The base is mahogany. Both pieces of wood were collected in South Florida.

The piece is 9 1/2″ tall (including the base), 9″ long, and 5 1/2″ in diameter.