Ethan Stebbins Merges Stone and Wood in 'Dichotomies' at Les Atelier Courbet

Ethan Stebbins, a former poet turned sculptor, presents 'Dichotomies' at Les Atelier Courbet in New York through July. The show features massive granite boulders pierced by wood beams and benches that seem to pass through stone. Stebbins, who studied poetry at Colorado College and NYU, transitioned to stonework after graduate school, learning landscape construction from Masahiko Seko and Chris Tanguay. His breakthrough piece, the Wabi Sabi bed (2020), caught the attention of gallery founder Melanie Courbet. Working alone in Maine studios, he sources boulders from gravel pits and logs from local tree services, using tractors, forklifts, and diamond saws. A charred maple table took two years to complete. Stebbins describes his process as 'following the stone' and cites writers Mary Ruefle, Diane Ackerman, and John Keats. The exhibition's centerpiece, Niche Drawers, is a stone boulder with functioning wooden drawers displayed in the gallery window.