We were lucky to catch up with Emma Levitz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emma, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I have always had an interest in art, but I first began developing my skills as a maker while studying Sculpture at Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston. I experimented with a lot of different processes and materials during my time there, mainly iron & bronze casting, mold-making, fabricated steel, and mixed media sculpture. I interned at an artist residency and sculpture park in the summer between my Junior and Senior years – Salem Art Works – where I first learned how to carve stone.

After graduating with my BFA and moving to Tennessee, I put all my creative focus into stone carving. After leaving my college’s well-outfitted metal shop and being out on my own, carving seemed like the most readily accessible process at the time. The only tools I needed to start carving were an angle grinder, a saw blade, a hammer, a chisel, and some light safety gear – all items that I already owned. I watched a YouTube video of somebody carving a bowl out of a block of concrete, and with the additional skills I had learned during my internship, I learned to carve my first marble bowl.

After carving for a couple of years, I started an apprenticeship and then worked at Tennessee Marble Company in Friendsville, TN for a little while as a finish carver. This allowed me to develop more precision in my work and taught me new techniques in polishing and finishing. Since then, I have been building on my skills mainly just through practice.

I think having a combination of formal art education through my schooling and a more utilitarian education through my apprenticeship has given me a well-rounded set of skills in my own carving process. I use traditional carving tools made for sculptors in combination with tools made for builders, tile-workers, and other laborers to allow for efficiency and versatility in my studio.

The only thing that has really stood in the way of me learning more is that stone carving is not a hugely popular career or hobby in the United States. Most artist residencies here do not offer any carving workshops, nor do they have studios that are equipped for it, which has limited my options as far as where I can learn to improve my skills without traveling abroad. Luckily, I have been able to visit or take classes at some of the few places that do offer stone carving here such as The Carving Studio in Vermont or Salem Art Works in New York.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a stone carver and visual artist originally from Vermont and now based in Cookeville, TN. My creative business is called Little Mountain Stoneworks, where I carve functional and sculptural pieces for the home out of marble, limestone, and other natural stone. I make custom stone accent pieces and adornments for people’s homes along with wholesale and consignment items for galleries and curated retail shops. I also teach workshops both at my own studio and at other locations.

My functional work is often inspired by fossils I find while carving and other organic forms in nature. I source most of my stone through Tennessee Marble Company, using off-cuts and scrap pieces they can no longer use. All of these carvings are made from 100% natural stone that is unique, food-safe, durable, and meant to last.

While most of the utilitarian pieces I carve are sculptural in nature and tend to be minimalist and organic in form, my sculptures themselves are really a separate body of work altogether, generally depicting abstracted or surrealist figures and forms that explore concepts like psychology, dreams, disorders, and memory.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the best way society can support artists and creatives is by continuing to include art in our everyday lives. Our governments can support a creative ecosystem by keeping art in schools, funding public art, and supporting creative organizations and programs in their communities. Everyday people can support artists and creatives through buying art, handmade gifts, clothing, jewelry, home decor, etc. from local makers. Business owners can help grow and support a creative ecosystem by hiring illustrators, graphic designers, muralists, or other creatives to enhance their own businesses. As we move forward in a world full of quick, cheap mass-produced goods and AI-generated art, I think we all can do our part to keep supporting artists and creatives if we are conscious and intentional with how we spend our money and what we value as a society.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

People who do not consider themselves creative or spend any committed time in a creative setting often say to me something along the lines of “I wish I was talented enough to make art for a living”. While I understand the sentiment, there are a couple reasons why that statement doesn’t quite sit right with me. For one, talent is not innate in any field. While there are some people that might have had certain skills nurtured more than others in their upbringing, people are amazingly adaptable and can learn to do almost anything with enough practice. I have spent a massive amount of hours in the studio learning, correcting, unlearning, and improving on skills in order to get to where I am now in my artwork. If someone really wants to be an artist, all they have to do is put the time in. My goal as a working artist has always been to make enough money to be able to continue making art, not to sell enough art to make money for other goals necessarily. I have structured my career and life around prioritizing my studio time because it is where I find joy and fulfillment. While there are other careers I could pursue where I would likely be making more money, it would cause me to sacrifice a lot of my studio time. People prioritize different aspects of their life to fulfill different goals. Personally, my creative goals require a lot of time spent in the studio, so I structure my life around that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.littlemountainstoneworks.com
• Instagram: @littlemountainstoneworks
• Facebook: facebook.com/littlemountainstoneworks
• Other: TikTok: @littlemountainstoneworks