Trefurl sculpture

I’ve called this piece Trefurl – actually  it is a made up word which sprang to mind as a small deviation from ‘trefoil’.

The Trefoil is a small European plant of the pea family with yellow flowers and three lobed, clover-like leaves.

The word Trefoil has also come to mean an ornamental feathering or foliation used in Gothic architecture in the heads of window-lights, tracery, panel-linings and so on, in which the spaces between the cusps represent the form of a three lobed leaf.  (from Latin Tres – three, and folium – a leaf).

In my sculpture the arched shape, of what could be a bird’s neck, with head tenderly furled against a three feathered tail or body, means that Trefurl describes it exactly.

What a marvel of markings this soapstone has too.

Trefurl is one of the pieces currently on show at the Elementum Gallery – so interesting to see the sculpture during the carving progress – what a transformation this stone undergoes from finishing and polishing!