About The Artist & the Art
About The Art
A piece of Stone Flower Artwork starts with the hand-selection of each stone from its environment.
- No stones are cut, broken or otherwise changed other than the creation of an opening for the flower and cleaning.
- The opening is strategically positioned to bring out the best in each stone.
- Each piece receives a coat of polyurethane to seal its surface and the bottom receives felt pads to protect your exhibition surface.
The real artwork begins when a cut flower, a beautiful but fleeting creation, is joined to the permanence of the stone which has been here since creation.
In June 2004, Steve was blessed to retire at an early age after a very successful 30-year career with the U.S. Government. The remainder of that year, however, saw Steve’s dad, Steve, Sr., worsen from the effects of colon cancer. On Christmas Day, 2004, Steve, Sr. succumbed to the disease and the very next day, about one-quarter of a million people in Southeast Asia succumbed to the tsunami which ravaged southeast Asia.
While driving home from Florida to his Marietta, GA, home on January 7, 2005, Steve called a medical doctor friend who recently lost his father to talk. At that time, both were felt called to go tsunami ground-zero, Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, to aid in medical relief efforts with a church from Baltimore, MD. Three weeks after the tsunami and the death of his father, Steve was in ministering to tsunami survivors.
“A cut flower, a beautiful but fleeting creation, joined with the permanence of the stone, which has been here since creation.”
After returning from the Banda Aceh mission experience, Steve pursued several areas of interest, one of which was to make artisticly inspired stone flower holders. At a February 2005 conference of missionaries from around the world at this home church, Fellowship Bible Church, Roswell, GA, Steve was asked to feature his artwork at the conference. When the majority of the art was purchased during the conference with the profit going to global missions, Stone Flower Artworks was born.
There is no Biblical model for retirement. In transitioning from a successful career to a significant retirement, Steve and his wife have made mission related trips to Banda Aceh, Hungary, Austria, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, New Orleans and other areas in the southeast US, with more trips planned for the coming years. At the same time, Stone Flower Artworks has launched. Steve will be donating a portion of the profits of this venture to the continuation of global missions at his home church.