Karen Preissler

Article Launched: 08/09/2008 03:04:02 AM EDT
by Brandon Canevari, editor, Manchester Journal
DORSET, VT--Five sculptors-Michael Fannin, Paul Hilliard, Karen Preissler, Ryder Owens and Steve Storch- are expected to carve at least one of the pieces of marble that would be auctioned to raise money for the second phase of the Bley House Museum.
The marble donated for the sculptures is the very same marble that was used in the construction of the New York Public Library as well as the facing of the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Boston Safe Deposit Bank and the monolith of the Fine Art Museum in Montreal, Canada.
The Norcross-West quarries located in South Dorset — from which the marble was donated — is one of the many stops along the Bennington County branch of the marble trail. According to a guide book created by the Dimensions of Marble, "the Vermont Marble Trail is a driving tour along the geological marble corridor running the length of western Vermont." The trail contains sculptures, monuments, and headstones created from marble, museums and architecture in which marble was used, and quarries from which the marble was mined."
There are five marble trails throughout the state located in Bennington, Rutland, Addison and Chittenden Counties and in Barre and Montpelier. The trail in Bennington County extends from Bennington to Dorset, according to the Dimensions of Marble guidebook.
The finished works created out of the 18 by 18 by 10 inch blocks of marble are planned to be sold at auction sometime in summer of 2009.