Stalagmite Sculptures

I was inspired to make these sculptures after visiting Drach Caves in Mallorca, where stalagmites and stalactites seemed to resemble groups of people. While I was surrounded by this nature-made art, I wanted to emulate nature. Stalagmites are created by the dripping of dissolved calcite over thousands of years; this is what moved me to make these sculptures using the drip method. I wanted to use the same method as nature does, only I didn’t have thousands of years at my disposal. Once the body of the sculpture was created through dripping, the identity of each became visible to me and then I could create the face.

Two Jesuses

Missionary

Married Bliss

About Nina Kossman

I’m a bilingual writer, poet, painter, sculptor, and playwright. I was born in Moscow. I exhibited my paintings and root sculptures in the 1980s, until my interest shifted to writing; with these sculptures I’m returning to art. My English-language publications include Behind the Border (Wm. Morrow, 1994, 1996 / HarperCollins) and Gods and Mortals (Oxford University Press, 2001). My translations of Russian poetry have been anthologized in Twentieth Century Russian Poetry (Doubleday, 1993), The Gospels in Our Image (Harcourt Brace, 1995), The World Treasury of Poetry (Norton, 1998), and Divine Inspiration (Oxford University Press, 1998). My translations of Marina Tsvetaeva’s poetry were collected in two books, In the Inmost Hour of the Soul (Humana Press, 1989) and Poem of the End (Ardis, 1998). My work was awarded the UNESCO/PEN Short Story Award in London (1995) and an NEA grant (1999). My poems, stories, and translations were published in many literary magazines such as Tin House, Threepenny Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Columbia, Confrontation, etc. I had two books of poems published in Moscow. Two of my plays have been produced off-Broadway. One of my plays is included in Best Women Playwrights 2000.

The Featured Image is part of Nina Kossman’s Stalagmite Sculpture series.