Sculpture of Gratitude

George Cooke kept a small piece of translucent white alabaster for years, waiting for the right moment. He recently transformed it into a molar tooth sculpture and gifted it to his dentist, Clinical Associate Professor of Diagnostic Sciences Raphael Figueroa. It was a present from hands that create to hands that heal.

“It’s a beautiful gift, and nobody will do it just because,” said Figueroa, who donated the sculpture to Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM). “I believe more people should enjoy it. This gift is a blessing, and we have to pass it on.”

Cooke began woodcarving on his own about 30 years ago. He later took classes at the American Wood Carving School in Wayne, New Jersey, where he eventually taught courses. He expanded into stone carving after discovering a class in New York City over a decade ago and attended for five years. His work has been featured in galleries and shows in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Moreover, he was commissioned to carve a large stone sculpture for his town, Ridgefield Park. The idea for Figueroa’s gift came about when his wife, Linda Cooke, visited Figueroa. The two talked about Cooke’s work.

“She came home and told me about it, and she said, 'you ought to carve him a tooth,'” Cooke recounted. He searched online for molar images. “We all know basically what a tooth looks like, but when you’re trying to actually carve it, you need a model,” he said. Using the alabaster, he first carved it, then wet-sanded it in a tub of water with varying grits of sandpaper until it was smooth, then carved the root from wood. “I looked it up and learned not all teeth have four roots. In fact, that’s fairly rare. But to make it symmetrical and stand, I did the four.” After about 15 hours of work, the sculpture was complete.

“You carved it with precise anatomy,” noted Figueroa as Cooke described his process.

This wasn’t the first artwork Cooke created for Figueroa. Based on a drawing by Figueroa’s former student Irene Kontogiannis ’22, Cooke carved a wooden portrait of Figueroa’s daughter, Elizabeth Gabriella Figueroa. He completed it at a carving school in Austria, where he sought help with the face—his less familiar specialty—though he had previously carved the faces of his father and three granddaughters.

“When I saw the wood, we loved it,” said Figueroa. “It has a special place in my heart.” Figueroa keeps that gift right next to Kontogiannis’ painting. As for the sculpture, it will be displayed at RSDM’s Oral Health Pavilion for the community to enjoy.

When Cooke learned Figueroa was donating the sculpture to RSDM, he was pleasantly surprised. “I’m so excited about it,” said Cooke, a proud Rutgers parent. Cooke’s younger daughter graduated from Rutgers Engineering, and his oldest granddaughter earned a political science degree there. His other granddaughter is still pursuing her undergraduate studies.

“I had no idea that he even taught there, much less that they had a place to display things like this. I was flattered that he would consider this good enough to be on display at the dental school. I had no idea what effect this gift would have.”