The Topsfield Town Library Art Committee is pleased to announce a new addition to the temporary sculpture program: The Great Adventure by Marin Murakoshi. The piece will be on display in the lobby through November 2025.

“The owl, being an owl,

and I, being me

can’t sleep”

Taneda Santoka (1882-1940)

About the Sculpture:

The Great Adventure depicts a scene where the mysterious owl rests on a dragon’s tooth, creating a scene from a story. The key under the feather and different colored eyes were not part of the original design, but were added based on a vision that came to the artist while working on the piece.

The sculpture, created from two types of white marble, speaks of the history of these natural materials and the “great adventure” hidden from sight until they reach the artist’s hands. The owl was carved from Carrara marble from Italy. The dragon’s tooth was carved from Georgian “Cherokee” white marble. This marble has a unique and historic past; it traveled from Georgia to Providence, RI, in the 1890s. It was discovered in 2023, having been buried for over 100 years. It is the same marble used in the Rhode Island State House building.

“I hope this work will make people think about how much the world has changed in the more than 100 years the stones have been buried, and what kind of history is hidden in them.” 

About the Artist:

Marin Murakoshi creates figurative and semi-abstract forms through carving, especially focusing on the direct carving of wood and stone. Her sculptures seek to capture everyday emotions, questions, and fleeting moments in simple form by relating them to mythology and folklore. She often creates forms through dialogue with materials.

She grew up in one of the oldest small villages of Ishigaki island, Okinawa, Japan. Before moving to Boston in 2016, she lived in Osaka, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle.