Types of Stone
Below is a brief description of each of the main types of stone used in my work.
Pounamu - New Zealand Nephrite Jade
Prized by neolithic cultures worldwide, revered by the Chinese as the "Stone of Heaven", nephrite jade combines qualities of colour, translucency and toughness that allow it to be worked into all manner of objects.
Formed high in the mountains of Westland in ultramafic pods, the stone has been distributed by flooding, erosion and glacial action over millions of years. Maori prospectors would cross the treacherous Alpine passes to gather this most precious resource, which was then broken and sawn into usable chunks and distributed to carving workshops throughout NZ. Much later, the gold rushes of the 19th and 20th centuries produced many fine boulders which were utilised for the jewellery and souvenir trade. It wasn't until the 1970s that carving pounamu as an art form once again took precedence. Using techniques gleaned from Maori artifacts and ancient Chinese jades, these artists began a contemporary movement that still flourishes today.
More detailed information on pounamu:
Pounamu - jade or greenstone at Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Argillite & Greywacke
Greywacke and argillite are sedimentary rocks, and examples found on the west coast are the oldest in NZ. Hundreds of millions of years ago these rocks began as sediments eroded from the ancient continent of Gondwana. Sand (greywacke) and silt (argillite) were metamorphosed by the combined forces of heat and pressure into solid rock.
Continuous lifting of the faultline - 7mm each year - combined with the effects of erosion, heavy rainfall and flooding rivers disperses the stone along the beaches of Westland and back into the ocean. Here the sands and the pounding surf of the Tasman Sea further refine the shape and texture of each stone.
