Title: On the Tip of My Tong
Artist: Rebecca Robinson
Medium & Materials: Hand-carved translucent brown sugar alabaster, antique hand-forged iron ice tongs, and a polished zebrawood gallery plinth.
Dimensions: 21" H × 10" W × 8" D (a commanding, vertically oriented museum-scale tabletop sculpture)
This totem-like contemporary sculpture explores the tension among fragile geological beauty, warm woodwork, and industrial permanence. Its wordplay is echoed in a state of physical suspension: a deeply organic, fabric-like wave of translucent alabaster is held within the tight, unyielding grip of antique iron ice-harvesting tongs.
Gallery Description
In On the Tip of My Tong, contemporary New England artist Rebecca Robinson creates a highly tactile composition in a commanding 21-inch vertical format. The sculpture rises from a substantial rectangular plinth of exotic zebrawood, polished to a satin sheen that emphasizes alternating bands of straw-blonde and deep espresso grain. A historic pair of hand-forged iron ice tongs is inset into the base and extends along the central axis like a dark, graphic heart.
The sculpture’s technical and emotional center is its translucent mineral carving. Suspended loop by loop within the iron prongs is a substantial, heavily contoured ribbon of brown sugar alabaster. Robinson grinds and carves the stone into a remarkably thin sheet, shaping fluid folds, hollow chambers, and fabric-like cascades that appear to move weightlessly through space.
Ambient gallery light passes through the stone’s milky-white, cream, and warm amber veining, giving the alabaster a luminous internal energy that belies its brittle crystalline structure. Through precise edge control, careful engineering, and an assured command of material weight, Robinson transforms the vertical composition into a powerful, meditative statement for a serious fine art collection.
Style & Composition
- Artistic Style: Contemporary material abstraction, kinetic mixed-media realism, and post-industrial assemblage.
- Composition: A vertical, totem-like arrangement organized around the centered iron tong mechanism. The tool’s symmetrical, heart-shaped curve cradles a dense organic canopy of stone above the geometric zebrawood base.
- Focal Point: The high-contrast junction where the dark, light-absorbing forged-iron tips grip the glowing white-and-amber folds of the translucent alabaster ribbon.
- Color Palette: A warm earth-toned spectrum of milky alabaster white, soft cream, and champagne amber, sharply balanced by espresso-charcoal iron and the striped straw-and-chocolate grain of the zebrawood base.
- Lighting & Atmosphere: Direct gallery lighting makes the carved alabaster folds glow from within and casts soft violet shadows across the zebrawood base, creating a quiet, majestic, and powerful presence.
Materials & Technique
- Carving & Manipulation: Fine-tool reduction, grinding, smoothing, and diamond buffing reveal the liquid movement of the brown sugar alabaster’s natural grain while minimizing its apparent weight and enhancing its crystalline translucency.
- Surface Contrast: The glassy polish of the translucent stone is juxtaposed with the pitted oxidation of the historic found-object iron and the rich natural grain of the exotic hardwood.
- Mounting & Engineering: Precision core drilling, concealed brackets, and internal tension rods secure the components flush to the wood plinth. This hidden structure preserves the ribbon loops’ weightless, floating appearance without visible adhesive.
Inventory Status: Available for purchase online or in the gallery.
Shipping / Pickup: Shipping is available securely packaged with professional archival materials, insured, and shipped globally; complimentary local pickup is also available at our 23 North Main Street gallery.
