Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.

Michelangelo

Our Totally Unique Premium Cremation Urns:

• Are made governed by the Michelangelo Principle.
• Are all one of a kind artworks. We really mean it when we say our premium cremation urns are totally unique. We won't insult your intelligence by mass producing a model line of cremation urns and then claiming each cremation urn is unique because the grain pattern is different. One of a Kind artwork actually means "One of a Kind artwork".
• Are made of the actual listed materials. If we say one of our cremation urns is made mahogany or any premium wood, exotic or domestic, it won't be poplar or pine stained to mimic a premium specie.
• Are not mass produced and are most certainly not outsourced. Each cremation urn is hand made and signed by the artist, Jacob Sutherland in Leominster, MA U.S.A. You can rest assured that each premium cremation urn is made in America.

JCS Carpentry & Woodworking strictly abides by the above principles because we sincerely believe life is precious. Life is God's artwork and is the most valuable gift we have. We strive to make our artwork to reflect the value of life endowed by our Creator. We do not deviate from the above principles because we will not damage the value of our cremation urns that way.

Michelangelo Principle: Envision your masterpiece within.

Michelangelo held an important belief about the art of sculpture: he beheld a slab of marble and saw the figure within, struggling to be released.

 From Kenneth Schuman & Ronald Paxton Authors of The Michelangelo Method

Artist's Comment:

While I make no presumptions of having, now or ever, the innate talent in the magnitude of the great master, I can sure as heck try. It is my duty to do so.

Michelangelo sculpted monuments out of stone. I sculpt wooden vessels for your loved one's final resting place. While one of my cremation urns may not be a colossal monument to a hero or heroine out of an epic legend, I work so very hard to make it a worthy vessel for your hero or heroine who played such a big role in the epic of your life.

My carving tools are razor sharp, and my lathe turns very fast. Sometimes I get hurt. Anything of value takes blood, sweat and tears. Nearly every day something hurts like hell itself, but as a shape begins to come forth out of a block, my heart starts to race and ideas start to flow as a picture emerges in my artistic eye, it's all worth it. Some of the greatest finds in archaeological history are of artworks pertinent to how our ancestors laid their loved ones to rest and to how they lived their lives.

Every burial urn has its own story. Sometimes the tale starts in Africa with an exotic wooded plantation. Sometimes it starts with me wielding a chainsaw, cutting up a lightning struck bough. I don't like to cut down a perfectly good tree. It makes the story less unique, so I always search for the right wood. We have an Elm tree that had its bark stripped at the base by porcupines. It cannot survive in its current state so I will give it a new purpose. In a year or so that tree will spawn dozens of stories. Sometimes the story pauses a moment when I nurse a thumb because the piece is giving me a fight, but I don't give up just as the horse trainer continues on. He knows when the fight is over, the wildest mustang makes the most magnificent steed, the steadiest friend, and the bravest warrior.

Isn't that what life is all about? We start off our lives with one purpose, and then lightning strikes. Sometimes we are struck down, but as we struggle afterward, something unimaginably beautiful and shiny emerges. Yes, sometimes we struggle, but it's the struggle that makes us better vessels. Michelangelo said it this way:

"Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle."

With each artistic cremation urn that I make, I will relate every unique story to you. I hope you may find similarities in the qualities of my work to whom it is intended for.

Sincerely,

Jacob Sutherland