Igneous Rock Gallery Stone Fountains

Meet Kerwin and Marci. I did in 2015 when they visited my Long's Park Art Festival display. They have a home in Bethlehem, PA and another in Sarasota, FL. People have asked many times how I got started going to Florida. It's because Kerwin wanted me to design and install a fountain for his Sarasota home. We had never traveled that far to install a fountain, but Kerwin is persuasive and charming and I just wanted to please the guy! Beverly and I planned a trip to combine Kerwi...n and Marci's installation and some family R&R. Beverly, Grayson and I drove to our Airbnb on Siesta Key, arriving after dark. The next morning I left before dawn for Kerwin and Marci's home. By the time the fountain was installed it was late in the day. I joined Beverly and Grayson on Siesta Key just in time to see the sunset pictured below. I remember Beverly's words and her tone of voice that evening as we watched that sunset together. " I want to live here, Robert. I mean it, I really do." Since then we've been back to Florida many times and have stayed in touch with Kerwin and Marci. They drove all the way to Naples for our last art show of the Florida Winter 2021season. It was good to see them there and we arranged to get together in Sarasota before my return to Pennsylvania. Fletcher agreed to clean out our Bradenton storage facility all by himself while I visited with Kerwin and Marci. It was a fun day! I picked Marci's brain, as she is a realtor and we may soon be on the market for Florida real estate! We had lunch at Brio, then back to their home to wait for Fletcher. Knowing I planned to drive well into the night Marci invited me to nap in a guest room. I must have needed it, because close to 90 minutes later I emerged feeling like I just woke from anesthesia! The nap and two cups of delicious coffee enabled me to drive all the way to South Carolina before taking a break. There I had a three-hour nap in my truck before waking at dawn and driving the rest of the way home in record time. One of the blessings of this gig is all of the interesting people we meet. Sometimes acquaintances turn into friendships. Kerwin and Marci, thank you for your friendship and your hospitality! Marci, thanks for the last minute turkey panini sandwiches, coffee and snacks. Kerwin, thanks for checking on me to make sure I would not push too hard and fall asleep at the wheel. Enjoy your retirement! I hope to see you guys this summer. PS: Fletcher is still in Florida with our trailer and remaining inventory. If you live anywhere between Florida and Pennsylvania and would like to have a fountain installed on his way home, let me know.

I wrote the post below after perusing Greg's new websites... Greg followed up with an email in which he cleared up some of my errors. I am glad he did, (although it's a deep dive and you may not be really into this!). I had been out to the quarry many times and picked up bits and pieces of Greg's story, but managed to make a mess of it in the retelling! When I asked Greg's permission to cut and paste his email (in the comments below) he said it's not necessary to correct the ...Continue reading

Our recent installation on Mars...

Mary and Prince's new fountain.

45 million year old volcanic stone spires from the Okanagan Highlands of Washington State are Robert Wertz's artistic medium for the fountains he creates

Giuseppe's new fountain design

This Thanksgiving I am grateful for customers become friends! So many of them! This morning I scrolled back to find this email from Tim as I packed a USPS flat rate box full of hot sauce for him, at least a half-dozen samples of our various batches this year. It should arrive before Thanksgiving.

Two recent Florida installations