Composite Soapstone Bears

Soapstone bears dipped in alcohol ink paint.

Allan is a self-taught carver who has worked primarily in chlorite, alabaster and soapstone for nearly two decades. He is an artist concerned by the amount of discarded materials, so he decided to find a way to use the cuttings and left over pieces of sculpting to create art. He has developed his own method to make moulds of his own original carvings and from those moulds cast new sculptures using “recycled” soapstone which he calls “composite soapstone”. It’s primarily soapstone pieces but in a totally new format. The castings are painted and coated with epoxy resin and are every bit as beautiful as the original carving. 

The grizzly bear is a representation of Kelowna because the Syilx people of the Okanagan Nation call the grizzly bear ki-low-na.