Incardona is a stone sculptor and owner of Sunrise Mine Enterprises in Wickenburg, Arizona, 50 miles northwest of Phoenix. At the Sunrise Mine Marble Gallery, he works on such projects as benches, tables, headstones, urns, fountains, ponds, diving rocks, and abstract sculptures. Past clients include George H.W. Bush, Jack Nicklaus, Hugh Downs, and at least six families featured on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Whether it's digging stone at his nearby quarries, carving, or installing his pieces, he stays busy.
"I've cut and drilled seven fountains in one day before," he said with an easy laugh. "There aren't many people who dig their own stone and carve from it."
Incardona's love of stonework may be inherited. His grandfather, also named Pete Incardona, came over from Sicily in 1916 where he had worked in the Carrera marble quarries since he was 12 years old. He also carved stone in the United States, bringing over the rest of his family when he became financially stable and eventually settling in Illinois."They had him cutting holes in marble walls for the electricity," Incardona said. His grandfather also worked on several well known buildings, including Al Capone's house, where he carved the corners of the walls to look like rope.
Incardona's father worked in the quarries when he was young and was also a stonemason, but he wasn't as interested in the business as his father. Instead, he went into the military where he became a highly decorated serviceman. He even discouraged his son from going into the stone business.Despite that 8th grade rock collection, Incardona didn't go into the stone business at first. He didn't do well in school, "except for art and P.E.," and ended trying several lines work: police work, making movies, boxing, and other trades. But he was always a hard worker and said he was influenced by the many strong, male role models in his life.
Left: On location for an HGTV Extreme Makeover show produced for the 2008-9 season, Incardona and crew install a Golden Travertine monolith on a matching base. Pete has collaborated with the producers of the show over the past several seasons, donating his time and unique, stone sculptures and fountains to worthy projects.Below: Pete Incardona slices a Serpentine boulder from China with his hydraulic saw built out of parts from a UPS truck. His custom saw uses a 5-foot diameter Diamant Boart blade with 6 feet of travel. Pete can adjust the RPM to suit the job and material with the throttle from the truck.
"I've been around old, hard-working men my whole life," he said.
In 1993, he became a partner in an Arizona gold mine that a friend owned. The mine had been in the friend's family since 1892. Incardona wasn't aware of it at the time, but the area was filled with high quality marble, perfect for carving. The stone eventually became more valuable to him than the gold.
"I didn't know there was such high quality black sculpture-grade marble there," he said. But when he discovered it, he also rediscovered his love of stone and his ability to work with it. The quarries also have other colors of marble, including white, butterscotch, caramel with a fern-like stain, charcoal, black and white, and others. He began to learn the trade, just like his grandfather.
Of course tools have greatly improved since his grandfather's day, when it might take years to do one project, and Incardona likes to fashion his own tools. For instance, he took an old UPS truck and converted it into a portable saw that could be taken on-site. The truck includes a saw with a five-foot Diamant Boart blade and a pump to run the hydraulics.
Today Incardona is known for his custom work, turning what may look like an ordinary rock into a thing of beauty. In addition to the black marble, he works with the onyx Arizona is famous for, as well as Travertine, limestone, and other stone
"I've always liked the rocks," he said. "I can see something out on the site and know how to turn it into what people want. I can make it work."
Potential customers can see all types of rocks at his gallery in Wickenburg located on the main road that leads into Phoenix. "It looks like the marble you might see in the streets of Italy," he said. Customers can also see him work. He and his wife do all the carving, and his children help out as well.
He also shows off his work at shows, such as Scottsdale's Celebration of Fine Arts Show, where artists exhibit and demonstrate their artwork. It was at this show in 2006 that someone from ABC became interested in his fountains. An executive from ABC called him later at the gallery, wanting to talk about featuring him on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Unfortunately, Incardona was cutting rock at the time and made the person wait until he could call him back.
"I don't think they were too happy," he said. "They couldn't understand why I made them wait, but I was right in the middle of cutting a stone. You can't leave that and come back to it. It would be wasting a cut."
But they did ask him to be involved, and he has done six shows to date, appearing with such celebrities as Kermit the Frog and the Monkees'Davy Jones. He donates all the pieces and installs them at his own expense. He estimates he has donated about $50,000 in contributions to the show. He also donates to many other charitable organizations, including military organizations, the humane society, town halls, and fire departments. Last year one of his donations helped raise money for a new fire truck for Wickenburg's small volunteer fire department.
Though Incardona has traveled extensively throughout the United States installing his pieces from coast to coast, he has never been to Italy, where his roots lie. He says he'd like to travel there, one day.
"I'd like to go to Sicily and see the stone and the places my grandpa worked."
He also hopes to continue making custom marble work available to as many people as possible.
"We hope to stay healthy and keep doing jobs, particularly custom jobs, which is one thing we do really well."
Fountain fabricated from end cuts of Seven Springs Onyx from the Seven Springs Mine in Maricopa
Country, Arizona. The Seven Springs site closed in 1990, but in its heyday reportedly supplied material
to face buildings at the 1896 Exposition. Several sources claim that in the 1920's through the 1930's
Seven Springs Onyx was turned on special lathes to make gear shift knobs for Pontiac roadsters.
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