Are you worth marble?

My friend told me this story and with her permission I get to share it with you.

The DAY Adrienne died (a Friday), she was in Ceramics class with this kid, a friend of hers, and asked him when he was going to do a full-figure sculpture because he had yet to do one.

Those were her last words to him.

He found out the following Monday that she had passed away, so he knew he had to do that piece in her honor.

He went to his professors and told them what he wanted to do, and they sort of laughed at him, told him it could only be done in a reasonable amount of time in clay. He said no way, Adrienne was worth marble.

They told him it would take at least a year.

The kid scouted out a few marble sculptors and mentors across St. Louis and outside of the area and took private lessons. He had never worked with marble before or even done full-figure sculpting. He sacrificed sleep and put it all into his art, much like Adrienne, he said.

He finished the piece in eight weeks. He wrote some incredible things about her and the way she lived her life and dedicated it to her art, to her friends and family, and to Johnny (her beloved). He talked more about his own work put into the sculpture, and then he made an amazing dedication to Adrienne, telling her again that she was the best art student in the program and that she was worth marble… and telling her to rest. It was a tremendously moving story. And the president of the school purchased the piece in Adrienne’s memory.

posted by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer