Utah Unearthed

Honeycomb Calcite Sculpture Duchesne Utah

When someone sees a honeycomb calcite sculpture for the first time in full sunlight, they are transfixed by the glow, and want to touch the sculpture. Their first question most often is, “Where does it come from”? The short answer is from the Unitah basin about 120 miles due east of Salt Lake City. Utah. The stone yard is actually in a small town called Hanna in Duchesne (pronounced : doo-SHAYN) county and the mine is 20 miles up Blindstream Rd into the mountains.

One might think that the local folks of Duchesne County would know about honeycomb calcite and sculpting it, but talking with Nemo, Blindstream Stoneworks general manager, in the summer of 2024, it became clear that the surrounding communities knew little about the sculpture being created from the Utah state stone. This triggered the idea why don’t we (the NWSSA stoners) bring our calcite art to Duchesne?

Duchesne, the city of 1,600 and the county 20,000, are small and rural. Would it be possible? Where? That fall Nemo put me in touch with Deborah Herron, the county Economic Development Director, to find out what was possible. Throughout the fall and spring Deborah, Blindstream, and I worked out how to make it happen. Deborah was the magician, who happened to know that the tourist Welcome Center would be converted to a museum starting Oct 1st 2025. Duchesne Arts Council’s members, Mona and Danita were fellow magicians who would manage placement and modify the space for display of sculpture, and came up with the name: Utah Unearthed.

After some quiet inquiries of NWSSA members, who had honeycomb calcite sculptures, and might be willing to place their work in a Duchesne show, I was able to confirm our ability to pull off a show. I would arrive by August 20 and set up a display of 15 pieces by 11 artists at their Welcome Center. There would be 5 Big pieces (Bill Gallagher’s Flame, Maximillian Corthers’ Seascape, Jason Patterson’s Sunrise/Sunset, Adam Lamberts’s Trash to Treasure, and my Flourishing Emerging), and 11 smaller ones (Molly Reusser’s two pieces Fruble and Facets, Clif Alferness: Bailer Shell, Ben Kimura’s Abstract Erosion, DeaVan Samuels’ Coming Out Of My Shell, Jonna Ramey’s two pieces: Zora and Vigilant, Gordon R. Welch’s Freeform Calcite #2, Stephenie Cardinal’s Sunny, and a two piece joint work by DeaVan Samuels and myself: Pop Rocks and Sunrise)

Here’s the promo video/slide show Molly Reusser made for the show: https://youtu.be/ChRhOAHLUT4

Once the show was setup, the Duchesne Arts Council made a walk thru video of the show that was put up on their web site:
https://youtu.be/4FNg7QERD7s

For the Duchesne community the show was a huge success. School kids had the chance to touch and learn about sculpture and honeycomb calcite and leave comments on what they saw. Hand written comments like: “I loved it so much this is a cool place”, “I like the owl! I love it!”, “So great thank you so much”.

The morning we were about to take down the show, a young boy brought his father back to the Welcome Center so he could share his excitement with his dad and see the show and the boy’s favorite sculpture.

The Utah Unearthed show from an artist’s perspective was a success:

• Stephanie Cardinal’s owl “Sunny” sold to a Duchesne resident.
• Bill Gallagher’s “Flame” will be on display by the entrance to the Duchesne city offices for the next two years.
• Jason Patterson’s piece “Sunrise” and “Sunset” will likely be on display at the Uintah Basin Technical College, and faculty are in conversation with Blindstream about creating a calcite carving program in support of Blindstream.
• Adam Lambert’s “Trash to Treasure” will be on Display in the Duchesne County Council reception area and his other pieces will be on display in a Duchesne resident’s home.
• The slices “Poprocks” and “Sunrise” that are supported by Deavan’s metal stands will be on display for sale at the Blindstream Hanna Utah sales office.
• A jeweler in Park City will be displaying and offering for sale Molly Reusser’s “Facets” and Cliff Alferness’s “Bailer Shell”.

List of artists:

Adam Lambert
Bill Gallagher
Cliff Alferness
Carl Nelson
DeaVan Samuels
Gordon Welsh
Jason Patterson
Jonna Ramey
Maximillian Crothers
Molly Reusser
Stephaine Cardinal

Published January 2026 Sculpture NorthWest Issue