QuarryHouse Profiles: Beverly Pepper
Beverly Pepper at Venice Biennale, 1968. Photo: Jack Mitchell
QuarryHouse was privileged to collaborate with the late internationally known sculptor Beverly Pepper (1922 – 2020) on the LandArt private commission in Marin County. A Brooklyn native, she entered Pratt Institute at sixteen, attending the Art Students League of New York and Brooklyn College, studying applied arts, fine arts, and art history. A trip to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, in 1960 inspired her to become a sculptor of monumental public works, site-specific and land art, instead of a painter. Pepper worked in traditionally masculine materials- stone, iron, bronze, and steel, yet gave them an ethereal grace and elegance. An American, she lived in Todi, Italy, for most of her adult life.
Beverly Pepper at Venice Biennale, 1968. Photo: Jack Mitchell
For Pepper's Marin LandArt, QuarryHouse constructed a massive "cyclopean" style wall using giant boulders roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones. Sourcing the boulders in the Sierra foothills, the stonemasons utilized cardboard models, CAD and Photoshop to develop the sculptor's design. After transportation, the team cut the boulders down, working them into the patterns of the walls. They dry-laid the stone pieces fitting the joints tightly. An aerial lift allowed Pepper to view them in perspective. Working with Redhorse Constructors, QuarryHouse built timber centerings as they erected the stones and placed reinforced concrete behind them to capture each course.
Sacramento Stele, 1998-2000, Photo: Jorie Graham
California is fortunate to have one of Pepper's art pieces in its capital. The courtyard of the CalEPA Headquarters Building boasts a grove of sequoia trees that shelter monolithic rock sculptures. Pepper repurposed Colusa Sandstone excavated in the late 19th century to build the San Francisco Ferry Building. Architects rejected some specimens, leaving them in a field where they developed a beautiful patina. CalEPA's architect, David Martin, found the Colusa Sandstone while surveying California quarries. Pepper's daughter, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jorie Graham, wrote the poem Also Blossoming for the incised text.
For more about Beverly Pepper, watch the trailer for the documentary by Luca Cococcetta and Marco Zaccarelli Teaser Beverly Pepper - A passage of time.
