Hinkelstein
Carrara Marble
10Wx 14Hx 1.5D
2002
My paternal grandfather was a university professor specializing in prehistoric culture. I remember visiting him as a little girl and playing in the museum he directed in a town called Halle an der Saale, the “Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Sachsen-Anhalt“ (Saxony State Museum for Prehistory).
Prehistoric architecture and artifacts have continued to fascinate me. I visited with them in Karnak, the Bretagne, Stonehenge, and in various parts of Germany.
Of particular interest were the monoliths of the prehistoric cultures on the European continent, such as the “menhirs”. In German parlance, the word became “Hinkelstein”, which means plainly just “large stone”.
It is not clear what the shape of these monoliths was to communicate; perhaps nothing more than being something remarkable. But I saw an opportunity to put my own stamp on this meaning by creating a whole series. My “Hinkelsteine” were to have a distinctive egg-like shape, being rounded toward the bottom, and coming to a soft point at the top. And their female form symbolizes fertility, steadiness, earth and bounty.
An Ingrid Schmid “Hinkelstein” imbues with strength, radiates beauty and creates abundance.
