Submitted by RaVae Luckman

STEWART LUCKMAN SCULPTURE Stone Circle will be exhibited at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art from Sept. 27 to Dec. 2, Friday – Monday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Stone Circle, Luckman’s most recent work, reveals his philosophy about art and study and relates the hand to the mind. This sculpture is the product of his childhood experiences in Ethiopia as the son of a missionary family. The exhibit is related to the research which he continued throughout his life. Luckman was granted a sabbatical to Italy from his professorial position at Bethel University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He shipped a container of marble from the Carrara quarries in Italy to his new San Juan Island studio. There he began to fuse his research with the images he recalled of elegant, art nouveau-like termite mounds in the Ethiopian landscape. Thinking with his hands, he manipulated the marble, shaped books and scrolls and carved trails as if left by termites.

Stewart Luckman, an imposing figure of a man with a ready smile, was a founding member of the SJIMA in 2001. From 2007 to 2012, he continued to volunteer as co-director of the SJIMA and Sculpture Park. Stewart invited sculptors to bring their work to San Juan Island where he carefully sited and installed it in the park.

Luckman understood there are many ways to learn. Art can teach even science by raising curiosity and awareness. His continual study revealed that numerous scholars and engineers in universities throughout the world have studied the habits of termites and the construction of their large mounds.

A photographic catalog of Luckman’s sculpture has been published by SJIMA friends in support of this exhibition. It includes essays by professional colleagues and it documents his long, creative career. It is available in the museum gift shop. SJIMA offers free docent-led tours, which are available by registering at https://www.sjima.org/docent-tours.