The Sculpture Studio  

    Sculptor Mark Carroll came from a family of artists. His father, Richard, was a wood and stone carver, his mother, a landscape oil painter. He grew up playing on Florida’s ocean shore and exploring the forests of Vermont.
    Attending high school in upstate New York, he excelled in art classes and on the playing fields. He had an innate drive to create art by exploring the shapes and forms of nature.
    After college, he taught high school art for 10 years before establishing The Sculpture Studio in East Aurora, NY in 1985. Here he pursued a career in industrial model making and in creating contemporary art in the form of stone and steel sculptures for private collectors and public spaces
    Mark moved his studio to Arizona in 2009.  His focus is primarily on creating sculpture in stone.

    A profound influence upon his approach to art is the Appalachian Trail. In 1977 and again in 1986, he walked the wilderness trail from Georgia to Maine. Living in the natural beauty of the forest and mountains for five months at a time left a deep impression.

    The long distance walks gave him insights into the way nature creates form in weathered landscapes and the organic growth of trees. Wanting to share what he learned, he taught high school art for several years and began woodcarving as a hobby.

    Mark developed sculpting skills with realistically rendered birds and expressive human characters in wood. His father had been sculpting life-size figures for churches; following his father’s death, Mark was asked to continue those commissions.  He established his own studio for both commercial sculpture and for his own art work.

    Continuing to master precision, he carved scientifically accurate reproductions for the Buffalo Science Museum. Working from fossil remains, he carved an Archaeopteryx, the first bird, with its wings extended in flight.
    Additional assignments for the museum include a baby mastodon for children to climb and a 32x enlargement of a Western Conifer Seed Bug for the entomology department, from detailed drawings he made using a microscope to view the specimen.

    Mark worked as a professional model-maker for toy companies like Fisher Price, Toys-R-Us, and Kid Design. He would be given a drawing of the toy figure or animal that was to be sculpted in wax or clay and used as the model master for final production. This precise and demanding work served to develop his technical skills.

    After taking a marble carving class in Vermont, stone carving became a new fascination. From marble, he went on to learn how to carve granite. For twelve years, Mark attended the Limestone Sculpture Symposium in Bloomington IN. Participants are given a 1,200 pound block of limestone to carve during the week-long symposium.
    A desire to combine different materials prompted an interest in welding. Combinations of limestone and steel, or granite and stainless steel, were soon added to his portfolio of work.

    Mark Carroll’s range of sculpting experiences has provided the versatility, knowledge of techniques, craftsmanship, and professionalism to create a unique work of art.

    His inspiration comes from nature’s organic forms, including the human figure.  The artistic statement is always affirmative.

   Visitors are welcome to see his work on display at The Sculpture Studio in Cave Creek, AZ.