The remote landscapes and rich dowry of these sites draw me into Neolithic culture. Traversing the terrain of alignments, rings and temples; climbing into chambers and cairns; and peering through windows and corbelled vaults of supernatural monuments, I find inspiration for both sculpture and prints. The finely carved inner walls of the Maltese Hypogeum, an underground vault-like room, used for ceremonies and burial, as well as the pierced holes and spiral and oculi motifs of the giant stones at Knowth and Carrowmore filter into my work. Titles to my sculpture often evoke memories of these mysterious and compelling landscapes.

I see studying the mysteries, places and materials of ancient peoples as a contemporary exploration of timeless scientific and spiritual questions.

--Marianne Weil, 2008

Trained by artisans in the village where Michelangelo quarried and carved marble, Marianne Weil learned the ancient tradition of carving and casting bronzes over 25 years ago in Pietrasanta, Italy. Her sculptures are created directly in wax and cast in bronze using the “lost wax” process. Unlike many artists who work in bronze, after the foundry has cast her pieces, Weil does all the finishing, chasing and patina work herself. Influenced by early Neolithic cultures, archaeology, and natural history, she creates a magical blending of bold and intimate forms.

While she incorporates natural materials into her bronzes, there is something distinctly deliberate in the placement of these materials that speaks to civilizations now long gone. With metaphorical imagery, Weil transforms familiar elements—of architecture, botany, biology, and geology---synthesizing historical and contemporary perspectives. While her work embodies the intuitive and the personal, she extends her cultural roots and individual memories by deploying visual detail from disciplines in the natural sciences.

Cynthia Nadelman, writing in Sculpture Magazine: “Weil’s references -- from cultural anthropology to the body -- are strictly her own ... and more easily compared to her baby-boomer’s generation‘s attraction to Surrealism and biomorphic forms. Many things are touched on -- geology/landscape, natural history/botany, and human histories (both collective and personal). In fact, it’s amazing what a diversity of potentialities Weil’s vertically oriented, upright forms embrace...”

Her most recent sculptures explore the ancient and ongoing dialogue between the individual in society. Windswept surfaces eroded by time and impressions made from her hands provoke a sense of timelessness. Individually, her sculptures stand proudly independent, inviting introspection through the hollow forms. The interiors and punctured openings suggest windows for quiet contemplation and dialogue. Assembled as a collective, these pieces encourage feelings of isolation and loss and evoke images of the solitary and heroic.