Somers Randolph creates man-sized sculptures and palm-sized works of art to be worn as adornment. His sculpture and his jewelry are elegant and rugged as well as delicate and enduring. His wife, Hillary, started the Somers Jewelry company with Somers' miniature whittled creations. 

Somers took some time out of his day to answer a few questions for us.

Q. Tell us a bit about your scultpure, Somers. It seems that the pieces that you create are large scale (as opposed to the jewelry that Hillary creates with your miniatures.) What do you like about massive scale?

Somers: I have yet to carve on a massive scale.  I'm sure I couldn't commit to carving a mountain, sort of like getting a tattoo...what if I change my mind?  I am enjoying working at an anthropomorphic scale -- my size or thereabouts. These pieces begin between 500 and 3000 pounds. I'll generally remove more stone than is left in the sculpture when I am done. I like to carve intricate shapes and the larger the piece, the more room there is for the tools to reach into.
 
Q. What do you learn from the juxtaposition of massive scale and miniature?

Somers: I suppose that's a reasonable question, it's been asked before.  I'm literally spending my life in pursuit of form.  A small sculpture is as valid to me as a large one. Contrary to public opinion, the small pieces are not models for larger ones. I have developed my own style or vocabulary of form over years and years of subtractive process.  I find myself at a loss with clay or wax. There are too many options and no stopping place.  Even in bronze one can add or remove at will. With stone, there needs to be a certain irrevocable decision made with each stroke of the chisel or pass of a grinder.
 
Q. Where are some of your sculpture pieces currently, in private collections? museums?

Somers: Carved stone is a rare commodity and contemporary carvers are rarer still. I recently asked one of the three dealers of dimension blocks of marble on this continent how many skilled, self-supporting stone sculptors there were in America.  He estimated between fifty and two hundred.  So it's a small puddle. I feel so very fortunate to be able to do this for a living.  It's what I love to do.  And, yes, I have been collected by a few museums and some famous folks too. This past spring, I was honored that Nicole Kidman added a piece to her front foyer in Nashville.
 

Q. What drove you to sculpt?

Somers: SO tempted here to mention my 1984 4X4 Ford Ambulance...  Drove is probably correct. Driven would be an appropriate adjective for anyone who carves stone. I figured out in high school that when a teacher posed a question, one of two things was true...he/she already knew the answer or it could be found in the library. In sculpture, the only known facts were how hard one worked at it and the tangible result of the effort. I was lucky to have a high school  instructor from 1972 to 1974 named Cabot Lyford, who is still carving granite in Maine today.

There's the old joke that when bankers get together they talk about art and when artists get together they talk about money.  When stone carvers get together they talk about tools and their bad backs and elbows and shoulders. I had dinner the other night with Iris Vasquez who spends her days pushing clay into magnificent shapes; we were speaking of sore hands.  It occurred to us that the only time our hands did not hurt was when we were working.

So what drives me?  I want to get on to the next piece.  My studio has eight or ten in-process pieces in it right now that are too big for me to lift. There are another 25 or so in various states of undress which are smaller, from 25 to 200 pounds. The one I'm most excited by...the next one!

Q. Where did you train to become a sculptor?

Somers: The only real training for a stone carver in this country is a long apprenticeship or on the job.  There are still classical training studios in other countries and something of the sort existed in Washington DC when the cathedral was being built, and in New York when there was work on St John the Divine. I am an untrained carver with thirty plus years of experience.

When I was twenty two and teaching at a prep school in Southern California, I attended a bronze pour at the Santa Barbara City College.  When bronze or any metal is liquid, it releases an energy which infects everyone within range. The instructor approached, introduced himself and asked me what I did.  I replied that I was going to be a sculptor.  He grabbed me by my shirt, got right in my face and said, " Somers, you either are or you're not."  That was training.

We learn from each other.  Stone folks, whether masons, quarrymen, or carvers are a different sort of people.  We work with earth, with stone that has been millions of years in its formation. Our pieces take time to make. We talk slowly and we have time to think a lot, to ponder. With luck, we'll leave things behind that will outlast many other forms of endeavor.  

Q. Now onto the jewelry, in your company story on your website, you mention that Hillary found many of your small carvings and convinced you to create a jewelry line. Now that you have a jewelry company, do you ever sculpt a piece with the intention of making it into jewelry?

Somers: I do carve pieces as, and intended to be, jewelry. Hillary will make a list of what we need for a new line...links, cuffs, pendants, etc. I can whittle soapstone directly with her requests in mind and carve to scale with a pocketknife.  We make molds directly from these pieces and go from there.

Q. Are there particular periods or artists who inspire you most?

Somers: I admire Rodin's business sense, Noguchi's balance, Calder's playfulness, and Brancusi's stubborn workmanship.

Q. Are you inspired by the landscape in New Mexico? your travels?

Somers: While the landscape of New Mexico is stunning, it doesn't inform my work. I do enjoy driving as a pastime and have crossed the country more than anyone I know. There's a lot of empty country out there that is great for thinking in.

Q. How do you handle the work/life balance with your spouse as your business partner?

Somers: As any couple that works together will tell you, there are special challenges. There is a temptation to be about business all the time and to short change just being together. I think we handle it as well as any. I love it when Hillary laughs.

Q. What is your favorite thing about jewelry design?

Somers: Where it's displayed.

Q. What is your favorite thing to do outside of jewelry design and sculpting?

Somers: Our daughter is eight; I particularly enjoy making things with her. She has a creative spirit all her own, and constantly amazes me with her unique way of seeing the world and all that's in it.

Q. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?

Somers: I feel very fortunate to be able to make things for a living. I do not worry about retirement, I will do what I'm doing until I can't anymore.

For Further Information about Somers Randolph's work, visit his website.
  

-CJDG Editorial