Southwestern Michigan College’s Art History I (Art 203) class is more tactile than you might imagine.

When Sherrie Styx’s students learn about marble sculpture, they carve soapstone and alabaster stones using small files.

Whether a slice of pizza, a snail or initials which could be worn as a pendant on a necklace result, they know first-hand how tedious a process it can be.

“It was easy, just time-consuming,” as one student put it. A snail took “four to five hours.”

“Who wants to try ice carving?” Styx asks. No takers.

“I’d rather take photos than do it,” says a graphic design major interested in starting her own photography business.

Marble has been the most preferred stone for carving since the ancient Greeks. Marble wil