Elijah

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TitleElijah

Artist Lorrie Goulet (American, 1925 - 2021)

Date1983

MediumEbony

DimensionsOverall: 17 1/2 × 7 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. Other (Sculpture): 12 1/2 × 7 1/2 × 6 in. Other (Base): 5 × 6 × 6 in.

SubmissionANA Diploma presentation, October 5, 1988

Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY

Object number1988.21

Label TextGoulet grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. In the mid-1940s she attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina where she studied with José de Creft from whom she learned the art of direct carving. De Creft inspired generations of American sculptors to allow the intrinsic qualities of natural materials to determine the shape and subject of carved forms. Goulet and de Creft married shortly after their meeting.

Goulet has worked with a variety of materials including ebony, alabaster, and onyx, which she regularly polishes to a high sheen. She believes that the act of carving is a search for the spirit locked up in the material, and that it is a form of mediation with the eye, the hand, and the tool working synchronically. She generally views sculpture as a combination of structure and volume, and as “a conversation without words.”