During the 30 plus years I worked at quarries throughout the Midwest, I spent weeks at a time on site while the granite quarry blocks I’d chosen were fabricated into the finished pieces that would compose my site-specific installations. While blocks were being machine cut or put to other machine processes, I had time to roam nearby acres piled with granite that–thanks to seams or veins, discoloration or spots–were considered scrap, as in unsuitable for architectural or industrial purposes.
There was no intent other than walking and looking and getting away from the factory noises and dirt. But once seen, pieces of stone began to engage my imagination. And though I had never been interested in creating object sculpture, I began to see possibilities everywhere amidst the discarded stone pieces.

One ubiquitous type of stone discards were ‘roughbacks’ – the naturally clefted end of a quarry block that was being cut into regular clean slabs. Roughbacks have one natural cleft surface and a flat cut back. They can vary in thickness from inches to several feet. Most blocks cut out of a quarry wall are quite large: 5-6’ wide, 8-12’ tall. So the resulting roughbacks were of considerable sizes.

I measured and photographed the roughbacks and eventually, through the help of Los Angeles gallerist, Fred Hoffman, I was able to make my first sculpture with this material, “Stalled Cairn.” This piece, along with other related sculptures, were exhibited at his gallery in Los Angeles, in 1991, and then in New York City in 1992.

The sculptures have the scale of works meant to be seen outdoors as part of the complex, changing spectacle the natural world presents.
-Elyn Zimmerman, 2017

Hand-cleft granite, each pillar 48"W x 48"D, variable height of 3'H - 14'H, 50'L overall.

Private Collection, Kent, CT

Natural cleft granite pillars, polished granite column and water, 10'H x 4' square pillars, 18' diameter reflecting pool.

Private Collection, Southampton, NY  

Arizona sandstone and gravel, 11'H x 20'W x 38'D

Installation view, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA

XX/XY, 1996, installation view, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

XX, 1996, natural cleft and polished granite, 54"H x 102"W x 48"D, Telfair Art Museum, Savannah, GA

XY, 1996, granite, 10'H x 6'W x 6'D, Private Collection, Chatham, NY

Polished and natural cleft granite and water.
Water flows from top of polished middle section. 

11'H x 16' diameter pool.

Private Collection, Darien, CT

Granite, 10'H x 10'W x 3'D

Private Collection, Kent, CT

Granite and water,  44"H x 10'W x 6'D

Long term loan, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

Granite, 9'H x 6'W x 8'D 

Private Collection, Amagansett, NY

Natural cleft and polished granite, 10'H x 21'W x 6'D

General Mills Art Collection, Minneapolis, MN

Natural cleft and polished granite, 11'H x 22'W x 3'D

Private Collection, Bedford, NY

Natural cleft and polished granite, 10'H x 20'L x 12"D

First commissioned for my exhibition at the Hudson River Museum in 1981.  The piece was sold with permission to the Clos Pegase Winery in Napa Valley, CA in 1990 where it was installed as originally intended - on a reflecting pool.
-Elyn Zimmerman