Granite Mother

Antoinette’s “Granite Mother” sculpture at Settlers Green is the largest featured piece. At more than nine feet tall, the sculpture offers a commanding invitation into the stability and durability of granite, while inviting the public to explore, touch and joyfully interact with the piece. Made of granite and inlaid colored caste glass, an opening in the design offers an exploratory window to view the shopping center, while the round blue inlaid glass creates a sundial, reflecting blue light onto the landscape. Antoinette has chosen to use granite as the medium for the sculpture given its importance to New Hampshire, the Granite State, giving it a strong sense of place while at the same time offering a little whimsical magic into the design.

Antoinette describes herself as “the singing sculptor”, often filling her days with sculpting and farm chores, while she hums a tune. Living and working on a farm in Eliot, Maine, Antoinette’s introduction into the art world began in 1961 when she audited a Masters impressionist class at Columbia College in New York City, and learned that an artist can express her feelings, not just copy nature. Her first love was music, but a desire to express herself led her to teach herself oil painting, and many years (plus four children) later, tried sculpting. She went from clay, to wood, to stone moving easily from one material to the next. She read library books, and with a baby in one arm, made her first casting on her dining room table.

“The materials and process of creating my sculptures are a manifestation of myself,” says Antoinette. “I carve stone and wood, coupled with glass into a marriage seeking light. The work is dirty, laborious and time consuming. Expending my energy in a meaningful way, I create order and insight from a chaotic world,” she explains. “I did not sing for 35 years and consider it a gift to be able to sing again. Sometimes I will sing while speaking about my art. I am the singing sculptor,” she finished.

Antoinette Prien Schultze
Granite Mother
antoinettepschultze.com