Billy Roper has been carving since before he could read. He remembers sitting on his father’s lap at age three, playing with a knife. As a small child, his desire to carve was so strong he used a screwdriver and hammer to work on rocks. By the time he came to wood and Georgia marble as serious mediums, his hands already knew what they were doing — the tools were just catching up to the instinct.

What is remarkable about these pieces is the self-sufficiency behind them. If a tool won’t do what Billy needs, he makes one that will. The carved works in Donna’s collection carry that quality — you can feel the directness of hand to material, no intermediary, no machine, just a man and the stone or wood and the image he needs to bring out of it. Georgia marble has a particular warmth to it, a creamy density that Billy understands intuitively. These are objects that reward slow looking and, whenever possible, holding.