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s night falls at the Convento di
Santa Croce in southern Tus-
cany, gleaming white fireflies
Aburst into light. One by one,
they gather in the walled garden crackling
and sparkling in furious competition with
the plump, silver moon above.
It is as if the sculptor, Emily Young, has
orchestrated this celestial ensemble
specially for our arrival – a demonstration
fitting of her work. Emily carves in mar-
ble, onyx, alabaster, and lapis lazuli,
creating dramatic stone personifications
of ancient earth and nature. She ham-
mers, chisels and grinds away at pieces of
rock, creating monumental works that
celebrate the material they are carved
from. She delights in the faults, veins and
splits in her material and relishes the play
of wind, water and temperature on their
craggy surfaces.
‘There is a story told in every piece ‘WHEN I CARVE
of stone that is more magnificent than
any creation myth, so when I carve into INTO THE STONE
the stone I’m imposing my own tiny I’M IMP OSING
moment on it, I put a little modern con-
sciousness back into nature,’ she says. MY OWN TINY
Handsome, aquiline noses and high, MOMENT ON IT’
straight foreheads emerge from stone;
each is imbued with its own identity as
determined by the stone’s geological
OPPOSITE The kitchen was once the
history and geographical source – be it
sacristy of the church. THIS PAGE
the Dolomitic limestone found at a quarry
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Dating back
nearby, or the rich royal blue of Brazilian to the seventeeth century, the cloister
sodalite, formed when molten rock cools is lined with Emily’s pieces. Upstairs are 21
very slowly deep within the earth. monks’ cells overlooking the courtyard. One
Though faces are evident, ragged flanks of Emily’s sculptures sits on a table in the
of rock are left untouched, revealing hall. The sitting room. Olive groves surround
nature’s own hand alongside Emily’s. It the monastry. The former refectory

HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2015