Marble

Today the artists of the residency were taken on a tour of a marble quarry. Marble is formed by layered and compacted sea shells that were at the bottom of the ocean 100 million years ago. Apparently this area of the Alentejo region was under the ocean. There appears to have been 350 active marble quarries in the region at various times over many years but now there are 50 active ones and the marble is of the finest quality in the world.

It is amazing to think how many shells this would require to be able to dig up marble from such a deep abyss and over an extremely wide expanse. The water from the deeper layers of the earth finds it way up. Birds were flying below in the quarry when I took this photo.

Workers were cutting marble into chunks or slabs under this green crane

 We took a walk next door to the remains of a no longer active marble quarry

There is a project proposal by Ludgar van der Eerden among a few others to upgrade this abandoned  marble quarry into a public garden and cultural educational center. The acoustics in this place are amazing and music recitals could happen here among many other events.

Scouting for potential outdoor installation spaces

This appears to be the spot were marble was tested

There were mounds of good free marble pieces for the taking so I took a few small pieces with me to the studio to give marble sculpting a go.