Decades after creating the Pas de Deux and American Woman marble sculptures, Francisco Sotomayor brings the past into the present.

Nudged by the marble in his workshop, Sotomayor put aside his obsidian sculptures for a revival of the old.

“The pieces have been laying against the walls for years, so I decided to do the hands again,” he said, referring to the hands on the American Woman.

With the marble remnants from both sculptures, Sotomayor has found inspiration and emotional connection to the original. While Sotomayor’s revivals are new, for those who know his work, the hands, some holding a rose, bring back memories.

“It turns out people really relate to the hands,” he said. “You see your hands all the time so when you carve a hand there’s a lot of respect for someone who carves a hand.”

When Sotomayor, who lives in Divide, created the Pas De Deux in 1999 and American Woman in 2003, the hands were a creative magnet.

“I did 50 hands and sold 30 of them all around the country, in person,” he said, referring to his trips across the nation for several years. “There are a certain beauty and suppleness to marble sculptures.”

Sotomayor intends to show the pieces at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show in February.  This year’s theme is Red, White and Blue to honor the nation’s 250^th birthday. In addition to the marble hands and rose, he will display his illuminated obsidian Golden Eagle.

“The old form of language is sculpture,” he said.