1980 - 1985

Carla continues to carve in alabaster to combine light/shadow, weight/lightness with the surge of water. She does “Little Roof Big Sun,” “A Muslin To Show You The Wind,” “A Page Of Light For a Line That Unites Two Points,” and “The Light And The Limit.” She also keeps herself busy by working on major private commissions, paper installations, the handmade silk rag, and her limited edition book: “A Cotton Bag Full Of Stardust.” The book is about her paper sculptures and installations between the years 1970-1981.

She starts to work on the projects “Playground” in Harlem and “The Fountain With The Permanent Shadow,” which has an electronic and hydraulic system that was designed and patented by her son, Carlo Lavatelli Herrmann. Also, she makes a series of environmental happenings for the community, to stimulate togetherness and peace. She believes that art should not only be a single individualistic experience for the privileged few.

She gets involved with using visual music and the sound of water. She makes two models for water sculptures: “For Birth” and “To Catch A Drop,” which is a water sculpture for the rain. Carla is very partial to water, which she shows in her work with religious reverence. In December of 1981, she gets married again. In 1985, she begins working on her second book. She completes construction in Tuscany of The Carla Lavatelli Working Place and Sculpture Garden. Receiving a major private commission and a book project with Abrams, she makes the first of a series of silk tapestries and collages titled “Woods In Bloom And Waterfalls.”

In 1984, she receives a commission for a monumental bronze and stainless steel sculpture, originally made in the late 60's, for the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. It is to be installed on Graduation Day in May of 1985. She loses enthusiasm for the publication with Abrams, due to a series of delays, and decides to publish her own book. “The Work of Carla Lavatelli by Carla Lavatelli... 1970-1984” is distributed throughout the world and sold in 28 museums, including the Metropolitan, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian, Tate, Pompidou and Fondation Maeght. She spends time on site while quarrying 35 tons alabaster boulders. They are being extracted from 300 feet below the ground. She completes the working model, with collaboration from her son, Carlo, of “The Fountain With The Permanent Shadow.” This plaza was first proposed in 1974, and was re-proposed by the Joukowsky Family Foundation in 1985. It was also unrealized in 1989.