Impressions

Date: 2008
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/2012/2012.20_2a.jpg&max=460 width="333" height="241" link="@http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=83912"]] || Title: **Impressions**

Artist: **Sebastian Martorana** Born: Manassas, Virginia 1981

Medium: marble Dimensions: 8 x 24 x 18 in. (20.3 x 61 x 45.7 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Patricia A. Young in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery and the thirtieth anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance © 2008, Sebastian Martorana

Accession: 2012.20 || “This summer I was fortunate enough to be selected by curator of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum for their upcoming 40th anniversary show, 40 Under 40: Craft Futures. They chose the piece below, //Impressions//, based on the death of my father-in-law. Rest in peace, Jim.” Sebastian Martorana, 2011
 * About the Artwork: **

//Impressions// is a marble pillow that shows the imprint of a human head. The work captures a moment in time, the death of the artist’s father-in-law, and makes the abstract “durable and graspable” (Bell, 56-67).

Sebastian Martorana studied Baroque sculpture in Italy. He also trained with well-known master carvers in the Washington, DC area. Objects recreated in marble by the artist include: towels, an overcoat, sheaths of paper, and a blanket. Although many sculptors use modern technology, Martorana carefully carves letters into venues for public reflection, for example the facades on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Bell, 158-159).
 * About the Artist: **

Bell, Nicholas R. //40 under 40: Craft Futures// (Washington, DC: Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Distributed by Yale University Press), 32, 54, 56-57, 158-161, 244-245, 254.
 * Resources: **

Artist Biography SAAM Collections Page Sebastian Martorana’s Website
 * Links: **