Local farmer transforms rocks into artworks
For most farmers, the rocks that surface in their fields and
orchards are a nuisance, something to be cast aside.
But Tye Lompa of Hollister looked at rocks and wondered what lay
concealed inside. Once he found out, he was hooked.
Local farmer transforms rocks into artworks
For most farmers, the rocks that surface in their fields and orchards are a nuisance, something to be cast aside.
But Tye Lompa of Hollister looked at rocks and wondered what lay concealed inside. Once he found out, he was hooked.
That led to a business far removed from his work raising walnuts and Lisbon lemons. Lompa and his wife, Janet, own It’s A Rock! which turns stone into art. A collection of vases occupies a shed near their adobe home overlooking a small pond. In their living room, a towering column of solid basalt sprouts a houseplant from its top. The sides of the column are riddled with holes, turning the monolith into a most impressive wine rack.
At the edge of the pond, an acid-etched steel framework holds massive slabs of polished basalt to form a unique bar.
“I’ve always liked rocks,” Lompa said. “When I finally got a saw, I said ‘my God! There’s real beauty in here.’ That’s when we started the company.”
Beautiful stonework helps define their home. The fireplace mantle and a nearby windowsill are solid basalt. The kitchen and living room floors are knit together in a mosaic of onyx from Pakistan.
The basalt comes from Washington, and the strawberry-colored mica in other pieces is purchased from Canada, but much of the material Lompa uses is sourced right in San Benito County.
Using a low, double-axled trailer fitted with a winch, Lompa purchases material from local property owners before hauling it back to his shop.
Since farming is seasonal, the rockwork allows the Lompas to keep their employees working throughout the year.
“It’s pretty hard to move a 1,200-pound rock by yourself,” Lompa said, smiling.
Vases of serpentine harvested in the Clear Creek region glitter with flecks of golden iron pyrite. Stone from the San Benito River, once cut and polished, reveals a rainbow of colors. Dolomite from the Cienega Valley resembles marble. The thin walls of some vases glow with the light of a candle placed inside.
Small pieces are priced at as little as $12 to $14. The largest vase-shaped pieces are drilled to fit a champagne bottle. Chilled in a freezer, the stone containers will keep a bottle of champagne cold for hours.
Examples of Lompa’s work can be seen at the couple’s Web site, www.itsarock.net. Their most popular retail outlet is Big Sur’s Post Ranch Inn, an exclusive resort where rooms go for $550 to more than $2,000 a night. The couple is shopping for a local outlet for the artwork, Janet Lompa said. “We kind of have a problem with marketing,” she said.
It only takes a few minutes’ time before Lompa emerges as something of a visionary, the kind of person who would look at a rock and wonder what lies hidden within its heart.
The pond the Lompas and their four children survey from their front porch is a reservoir for the lemon groves surrounding their home. By giving the water a negative ionic charge, Lompa said he has reduced the fertilizer he applies to his trees by 60 percent. The water itself allows the trees to reap nutrients trapped in the soil.
In the couple’s living room sits a full-sized billiard table, but flipping a switch causes the table to disappear into the floor, with a section of that onyx flooring lowering itself to neatly cover the void where the table sat.
With a family, 320 acres of walnuts in the Central Valley as well as the lemon grove, Lompa’s days are full. Stonework is mostly done when he can spare some time in the evening, he said.
The business is evolving as Lompa spends more time and energy on larger pieces, each somewhere bearing his logo – a smiling face.
Living in a home he helped build tucked into a lush lemon grove, pursuing his passion for transforming rocks, Lompa has every reason to smile.
