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Graham uses an intuitive process to create his sculptures. When carving a sculpture, he says that he wants to ‘draw a feeling from the stone’. He also says that the feeling inherent in the stone has been formulating over time, like a seed in the ground, and that his role as the artist is to bring that image forth out of the stone and into the new social order of the present. Pettman’s images include different forms of birds, animals, and people. Moreover, his images of people are unique in that they portray both native and European physical characteristics. Meanwhile, many of his animals contain human-like expression, while people contain animal-like expression.
Because of the fusion between real and supernatural and fusion of cultures, Graham’s sculptures present a multi-dimensional, yet whole appearance. The stone itself has something to communicate, especially about long-term memory. When the long-term memory of the land combines with the present social reality, Pettman’s sculptures can act as a living record of North America, a present day fusion of cultures from all over the world
(including African and South American as Graham will carve in marbles from both these continents). But more specifically, through the hands of the sculptor Graham Pettman, the stone communicates the influences of that fusion of world cultures on Cree culture itself.
As evidenced through this fusion, Graham does not necessarily see his sources of inspiration drawn from one culture. Because of the influence from all sources, Pettman’s sculptures reflect the commonality of the human experience. He acts as an intermediary between cultures, but also between the real and the supernatural. As a result of Graham Pettman’s communications with stone, he becomes a transformer, and a shaper of our common dreams as human beings.
Kathleen McMurray Street Warrior, 1990
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