Finding Inspiration in the Cleft of the Rock

Temple Martin began rock climbing in her 40s and discovered she loved the feel and touch of stone. That led to a desire to work with her hands; to be creative. At 50, she began searching for an artistic expression. She tried piano lessons, then woodworking. Neither was satisfying.

One day, she walked into a Cary Street gallery and saw “beautiful smooth carvings that looked like [works by] Henry Moore,” a 20th-century English sculptor. That was it. Martin had found her artistic medium.

The gallery artist referred her to John Torres, a local artist who died in 2001. Martin studied with Torres about five years and took courses at Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Richmond. She now works in stone, bronze and plaster.

Martin’s work was displayed recently at Westminster Canterbury Richmond, where she and her husband, Robert, a retired financial analyst, have lived for the last year and a half.

 Complete Connectedness

Sculpting is more than a creative outlet for Martin, 71, a member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Goochland County. It’s a way of praying. “Prayer for me is just losing myself in a piece of stone. It’s kind of a gift. It feels like a complete connectedness,” she said.

She has titled a booklet of her sculpture, “Could This Be Prayer?” In a section of sculptures of raptors, or birds of prey, Martin wrote: “One of the most spectacular sights in nature is the moment when a Raptor spots his prey and dives for it. That moment holds exquisite beauty and intense violence. And I wonder, could this act of preying also be an act of praying?”

Martin added: “A lot of people say: ‘It’s awful. They tear up the fish.’ But it’s important to me. Is [preying] prayer, of course, is a question. I certainly don’t know….I’m sure it’s prayer for me.”

Her life also has been influenced by the writings of the Rev. Frederick Buechner, a Presbyterian minister and author of more than 20 novels and nonfiction works. Martin cites a passage from Buechner’s “Listening to Your Life” that says: “You don’t have to beat a path to God’s door for him to hear a prayer. But until you start on the path, he doesn’t know how to find you.”

High-Energy Life

Martin was very athletic as a child and adult. She has done a lot of hiking on the East Coast, in Europe and in Patagonia, South America, and whitewater canoeing in Virginia and West Virginia. She was part of a team that taught an outdoor course, called Watermen, at St. Christopher’s and St. Catherine’s for high school students. The course included rock climbing, her introduction to what would become a lifelong passion. She also did outdoor programs for the University of Richmond’s former Women’s Resource Center.

Because of her high energy and athletic background, carving stone is a good pursuit. It’s physical, said the sculptor, who grew up in Virginia Beach and moved to Richmond in 1963 with her husband, who is from here. She is a graduate of Hollins University and ran a nursery school for 10 years before beginning to do outdoor programs. She is a fellow of the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, near Sweetbriar College.

Tools of the Trade

At Westminster Canterbury, Martin’s studio is outdoors, in view of a path around a pond. She works on a strong water-resistant table, using a Dremel drill, a grinder and hand tools, such as chisels, files and hammer. When she works in bronze, she makes the sculpture in plaster and then casts it in bronze.

“Hammering on stone is not something most women, do,” Martin said. Other Westminster Canterbury residents often stop to admire her work and watch the progression of her pieces.

She averages four or five sculptures a year. “I don’t make things quickly. If I make five a year, that’s good. I don’t have a gallery. But I have been in some shows and galleries and have sold some of my work. Some are commissions. Sometimes I do it for a gift. I made a sculpture in the shape of Georgia for a friend in Atlanta,” Martin said.

The evolution of her work began with figures of women and animals indigenous to Virginia. Now she also does abstract pieces.

The recent exhibit at Westminster Canterbury included two bronze pieces: her husband’s face “when he had more hair,” Martin said laughing, and a horse. Another exhibit piece was a 24-inch tall beaver commissioned by a woman whose late husband had attended MIT. The beaver is MIT’s mascot.

At Westminster Canterbury, the Rev. Canon Bob Heatherington, retired rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Richmond, has dubbed Martin “a rock star.”Finding Inspiration in the Cleft of the Rock,

Alberta Lindsey spent 42 years as a newspaper reporter. Now a freelance writer in Richmond, she enjoys reading mysteries, traveling and photography.

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