Marcia Bennett-Male carves vegetables in stone to bring out their character
The London-based artist shares how common vegetables and other foods inspire her, and why she's taken to carving Brussel sprouts from Zimbabwean springstone
How did you get into carving food sculptures?
The main carving I did for my final year at City & Guilds was a festoon of the fruits, fish, vegetables and fauna of the West Indies. Then after graduating, I had a workshop in the heart of Peckham, south London, where there were all types of market food stalls and shops from across the globe on my doorstep. I wanted to elevate food produce that I and most people wouldn’t pay much attention to, by effectively putting them on pedestals.
What is your most significant piece?
The festoon as it is the first piece where I used my carving skills in the manner I had long been aiming for. It felt like I was working in a medium not pertaining to me, a black female, depicting my culture in a style I had only seen in or on buildings of commerce and state, or churches and cathedrals. I am still very proud of it.
Pig's Head in limestone by Marcia Bennett-Male Festoon of the West Indies, Male's final project for her studies at City & Guilds
What interests you about carving and food, and what are the commonalities between your two interests?
The only ‘commonalities’ between carving and food for me would be on a visual level. There is a long history of food being depicted in art and in architecture. The famous ‘unswept floor’ mosaic in the Vatican Museum, the often overlooked but brilliantly carved archway leading to the Seville Cathedral which depicts a banquet of 68 plates of food, or even Tavares Strachan’s spectacular contemporary piece The First Supper, which was recently on display in the courtyard of the Royal Academy.
What kind of foods and food cultures are you interested in?
Well, the notion of depicting my own Caribbean heritage in stone started to percolate at art college. I’m fascinated by global food anthropology – I’d love to have the time and money to do a second degree in the subject. Regarding what kinds of food: it has to be aesthetically pleasing and interesting. That might be a beautiful curvature, a lovely Baroque or Rococo flourish, or some playfulness and drama about it!
Chinese Bananas in Zimbabwean springstone Octopus Morsel in limestone
How does this show in your work?
I can carve the piece with all its details. But generally I like to only use enough realism for the viewer’s brain to register and recognise the food item, while mixing in some stylisation that the raw boulder itself sometimes dictates, like the chalk cauliflower I made for the Vintage Supermarket at London Craft Week.
Can you tell us more about what you made for London Craft Week?
I had two pieces on show: A sweetheart cabbage carved from Ancaster limestone and a cauliflower carved from a raw boulder I took from the Cambridge Chalk Pits. The block that the cabbage came from started life as an unsuccessful head. I hadn’t seen a sweetheart cabbage before, they are really lovely things to study. Before it started to wilt, I took lots of photographs from all angles and did a quick clay maquette, capturing the main ‘gestures’ of the cabbage. The base and the cabbage were carved as one. As for the cauliflower, it practically carved itself – the shape of the chalk boulder helping me uncover the flounce and dramatic gestures of the leaves. I only used an actual cauliflower to see how the veins of the leaf were laid out. Even when simplifying a food item, a certain amount of ‘truth’ must be in evidence for it to work.
Brussel sprout in Zimbabwean springstone Marcia Bennett-Male in her London studio
Where and how do you like to work?
I have a tiny workshop at Thames-Side Studios, London. They have a communal yard which you can rent to do messy work. That’s where I do any necessary angle grinding work before bringing the piece into the workshop to continue by hand and/or air hammer.
What type of materials do you work with and why?
I haven’t worked with granite yet, and I’m in no rush to do so because it’s very unforgiving. Otherwise mainly limestone, slate, marble and recently chalk. I am especially fond of Zimbabwean springstone, which can polish up to a jet black. Working with a raw boulder, you don’t know what you’ve got in the way of markings until you start to ‘rub-up’ the stone. I love that part. Often, I use off-cuts from other carvers or stone suppliers. I can squirrel away pieces of stone for years before finding a use for them.
You are also a textile artist. Working in the two mediums must be quite different.
I was working in textiles long before I picked up a hammer and chisel. My mother was a highly skilled dressmaker, so I grew up with the sound of the sewing machine at home. I did O & A level embroidery at school. Then I did the Theatre Wardrobe course at Wimbledon School of Art before dropping out because the actors got on my nerves! I ended up at Wolverhampton Polytechnic with a print and textile portfolio. It was where I discovered the stone yard, and I fell in love with the medium. By contrast, my style of working in textiles is faster, more spontaneous and more colourful than the slow meditative nature of carving stone.
Bennett-Male's ginger root vessel in Portland limestone
What are you working on now?
A simple lettuce leaf in alabaster. I enjoyed transforming the reclaimed stone that already had severe, angular cuts in it, into a soft, undulating form with the light glowing through it. Plus there’s a Zimbabwean springstone Brussel sprout – I usually have one of those on the go. The polishing up takes an age. A jet-black Brussel sprout always gets people’s attention. And they are great to roll around in your hand!
Are there other materials and mediums you’d like to explore in future?
Bronze! I would love to do some work in that. So far I’ve only modelled up a chicken’s foot in wax and had that cast. Yes, a chicken’s foot…
