M. J. Anderson

A working studio artist for 36 years, I predominately carve marble and stone. 

Having concentrated on the form and image of the female torso, I believe these sculptures give a woman’s voice, my voice, to the storyline of history.  I also create abstract sculpture relating to nature’s elements, passion, passage and growth.

I am condensing my ideas of the figure by carving a new series of vessels in green onyx, translucent onyx which feels like petrified water and speaks to me on a very elemental level. My sculpture has always been about the vessel.  Whether carving the torso as metaphor for what it feels like to be a woman or creating abstract sculptures to reflect the anatomy of passion, I am concerned with the elemental core of emotion.

Language reflects ideas and since I speak both French and Italian, the French word, le bassein,  and the Italian word, bacino,  both refer to pelvis and reservoir, watery pool, and the well of life.
These forms give resonance to the concepts of womb, well/source as well as the vulnerability of water resources. Other new sculptures are my response to the impending chaos of climate change, the chaos of tornadoes—reflecting emotions that weigh heavy and yet solid and slightly out of control.