Carol
Griffin
Media:
Sculpture
Studio Location:
43-01 21st St
Room/Studio#
321A
Website:
Artist Bio:
For twelve years Carol Griffin studied figurative and abstract direct carving in wood and stone with master sculptor Lorrie Goulet at The Art Students League of New York, and later in Goulet’s private studio in New York City. Beginning in early 2023, Ms. Griffin began teaching direct carving at Woodstock School of Art in Woodstock, New York, and at The Compleat Sculptor in New York City in 2025.
In 2023, Ms. Griffin was the Featured Solo Artist in “Apprentice Turned Master: The Nature of Direct Carving” at Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. Ms. Griffin lives and works in Long Island City, New York.
She participated in Woodstock School of Art Instructors Exhibitions at the school and at Lockwood Gallery in Kingston, New York. Her work has been presented at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, the Guild Hall museum in East Hampton, New York, and several juried group exhibitions in New York City and in East Hampton, Saugerties, Kingston, and Woodstock, New York. Ms. Griffin’s work is currently exhibited in the permanent collection of the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, Florida, and in private collections throughout the United States.
Artist Statement:
I find that a distinct similarity exists between direct carving and the overall life experience. Carving is a subtractive process…once material is removed, it cannot be added back. So it is with life: once time passes it cannot be retrieved. As a sculptor, it's up to me to make the most of the material before me. My goal is to turn the materials I work with into something beautiful. I must be fluid, constantly revising my approach, changing direction. I can only move forward, keep on going. The stone or wood becomes a metaphor for life: there's no going back once material, or time, is gone. I ask myself to forget what has come before. How can I make this material, or this life I have, with its chips, gouges, and incomplete forms into something that can bring delight to others?
The joy of carving natural stones and woods is, for me, beyond any descriptive words. To work as a direct carver is tremendously exhilarating. I believe that respecting the material, allowing interaction between it and my hands, head, and heart, and finally watching forms emerge that please – and often surprise – me, is a miraculous process. Ironically, I find the unique constraints imposed by this subtractive way of making sculpture quite liberating. Within the block of stone or the log of wood are infinite possibilities. The finished sculpture and I are like two friends who shared an arduous journey, both having emerged the better for it.
