The sculptor
Zak Stevens
Zak Stevens is a sculptor working in marble. His subject is the human figure, carved by hand from a single block.
He trained under the sculptor Paul Vanstone, and the fluid, abstracted line of his figures owes much to that schooling. He has worked alongside Vanstone at intervals since, and now produces a body of work of his own.
His most recent piece, Are You Looking Up, sets a tall female form beside a small companion at her feet, the two joined in a single upward gaze. The natural openings in the white marble are finished in gold.
View the latest pieceMentorship
Paul Vanstone
Stevens learned to carve marble under the mentorship of the sculptor Paul Vanstone.
Material
Marble
No two blocks are alike. The colour and veining of each stone carry through into the finished work.
Practice
The figure
Abstracted figures, often without head or limbs, in which stance and proportion carry the work.
In the workshop
Where the work is made.
The work is made in an open-sided timber workshop beneath a clear roof, where a chain hoist moves the blocks and the grinders hang ready on the wall.
Each piece is carved by hand from a single block of stone. Nothing is cast or moulded, and no cut can be taken back.
It begins with the block.
A block of marble is set down in the yard and drilled.
From there, the work is done by hand.
Pencil first, then the grinder, then abrasives of increasing fineness, until the surface is smooth to the touch.
