Rob Finnie
Stone Sculptor
Rob joined the Williams Mill Stone Sculpture Studio in 2022 year as a student of Mary Ellen Farrow. Stone sculpture is a new creative outlet for him, combining a love of geology and fine art. A new way to let his imagination out of the box.
He has a Masters of Arts degree in archaeology and worked as a research assistant at the Royal Ontario Museum. Art concepts such as balance, proportion, symmetry, line and meaning are part of an internal vocabulary, developed over a lifetime.
Most of his artwork uses soapstone and alabaster (the softer stone types). Chlorite, serpentine, limestone, and other varieties are also fun to experiment with. Hand tools are used almost exclusively for both shaping and polishing, for an ancient and intimate connection with the materials and processes.
Rob’s creative output ranges from realistic representations, to semi-abstract creatures, landscapes, and objects, to pure abstraction. He is happiest when improvising. Creative play leads to pieces with a sense of humour and an implicit lightness. Sometimes the results are composite pieces, using different types of stone, and often with moving parts.
