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Maya was born in the countryside of Zurich Switzerland. As a young women she studied Podiatry and her love for the human body translated into her first sculptures already then. She came to California to study Polarity therapy and nutrition. She kept sculpting as an exploration of perceptions beyond the hands on work in therapy.
Motherhood, and later her experience as a single mother translated into her successful commercial line
"Forms of the Feminine Spirit"
Maya is now working on her certification with Integral theory, based on the teachings of Ken Wilber. She is working on a new line of sculptures expressing a newly emerging World Spirituality.
About Marble
As tiny water droplets float in clouds, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air around them. They fall as raindrops, wet the earth and pull calcium atoms out of the minerals. The rainwater flows to the sea, carrying the calcium with it.
In the ocean, critters and algae pull calcium atoms out of the water, to make their calcium carbonate shells. As these calcium-loving life forms die and their shells accumulate on the ocean floor over millions of years, they build up layers hundreds, even thousands, of feet thick. Squashed by tons of pressure, the shells cement together to form limestone.
Tectonic movement of the earth’s crust, push and pull and bury the limestone. Heat and pressure allow atoms in the limestone to rearrange themselves, to convert small crystals into large ones. The limestone, once living creatures recrystallize into marble.
Marble used to be limestone. But in the studio, the two stones respond very differently to the chisel. Marble is unique. Few other stones are as hard, yet workable with the chisel, by hand or by pneumatic tool powered by an air compressor. Marble rings as the tool chips into it. Depending on the direction of the tool, the ring might change a bit, but only in working the stone can I recognize the direction of the crystals. Marble is extremely dense. That is why it lends itself to the finest details. I love the extreme range of approach it demands from me. As I start out on a rough piece of unhewn stone, I need to tap into a very forceful energy, where I am not afraid of power tools, flying chips, dust and harsh cuts into this sophisticated material. Nothing that is gone can ever be put back, no exemptions.
Later when the rough cuts have downsized the stone to its basic circumference, I start working with the larger air hammers. I have three different pneumatic stone carving hammers and their tools. The smallest size puts me in a space of very precise, fine and delicate accuracy. At this point I might be working on the details of hair or even the outlines of a face. Always in between, I find depth or angles or shape small distances by hand. Progressing into the finer layers I use hand rasps, pieces of grinding stones and then many grades of sandpaper. I work until the piece has a smooth matte surface that can be polished to a glassy, transparent quality.
In the final piece, the difference between a chisel stroke and a polished surface creates dramatic effects in how the stone reflects light. I make these choices throughout the process to enhance the depth and meaning of the work.
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