Felucia —
by Martin Cooney

Description:

The unusual triangular ‘sail’ for this bowl is a direct result of the splitting process, by which I separated the block from which I carved Felucia, from the ten ton slab of Colorado Yule Marble that produced all 41 of The Maiden Collection sculptures. What you are seeing are two solidified seams of what was liquid rock sometime during the past 35 million years. Although it may look a tad fragile, not to say tippy, it is actually one of the most grounded and stable bowls I have yet carved thanks to the counterweight ballast that I left in the base, or hull, of the boat’s keel. The name ‘Felucia’ arrived as the pointed triangular sail gradually took shape and images of the iconic nimble watercraft scurrying across the surface of a dreamy River Nile flooded into my mind. Even the sail added to this imagery as the cloudy billowy patters emerged to suggest an evening storm. There is even a mysterious and entirely inexplicable orangey spot amidst the tumult that for all the world suggests a moody sinking sun, serving to illuminate the storm clouds in a most eerie and atmospheric manner. The silver-grayish markings by the way are odd remnants of the magma (or molten granite) that encapsulated a fragment of Leadville Limestone that itself was over 300 million years old, the result of fossilized deposits from a warm tropical inland sea that once covered the entire area. Strange then to think that not only has Felucia journeyed through such an immense slice of geological time but has also taken a 9,200 foot vertical ride along with the rise of the Colorado Rocky Mountains! All in all Felucia is perhaps the oddest and most distinctive of my Hand Carved Marble Bowls to appear from my workshop to date, but a bowl that never fails to capture the interest and spark the imagination of all who lay eyes upon it. As with all my marble ‘Collection’ sculpture Felucia has its Serial Number (120305), along with my Mark, etched into the underside of its base.