Moving on...

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Sufficiently inspired, from this weekend's Loveland shows I brought home 300 pounds of new stone.

(Note: if you're new to blogs there is only one thing you need to know: the most recent entries are always on top. Read from the bottom to the top)

- 175 pound block of amazing Crema Espanol
- 40 pound block of translucent Calcite marble from Utah
- 60 pound block of White Alabaster from Italy
- 50 pounds of Colorado Alabaster
- and a small piece of Zebra marble from Utah

A busy winter ahead. Lots of practice prior to the week of MARBLE/marble XVIII which I have signed up for in July of 2006. I enjoyed reading a Denver University professor's experience at this year's Marble/marble.

Thanks for listening in...
--Douglas

The Reception

The reception was a very happy and noisy affair. A highlight of the evening was the presentation of a portrait to Collen from Bob Coonts, one of the sculpture students (and a well known local artist).

Day 5 -- Final Waxing & Finishing

There will be one more posting after the artist's reception this Monday evening. I'll add photos of the other artist's work from four weeks of carving with Collen. All are invited to the reception - email me for details.

The final day of an amazing 5-day journey was filled with a little bit of everything. Waxing, carving, sanding, firing, laughing and shop shop cleaning.

I loved this class and discovered a great love for stone carving. I'm already inquiring about next year's "MARBLE/marble" and then perhaps Valdicastello, Italy!

I am spending the day tomorrow at the Loveland sculpture shows: Sculpture in the Park and the Loveland Sculpture Invitational. Hoping to come home with inspiration and perhaps a hundred pounds or more of raw stone. I'm hooked. Thank you, Collen and Lorri.

"Full Sail"
Within this piece you can see a centrally located sail boat surrounded by a storm (polished stone) over top billowing waves (rasp-textured stone). To the left is a dangerously close rocky shore (raw stone) with crystalline outcroppings. This "bonus" alabaster piece ended up being my favorite, though I prefer working in the harder Chlorite stone.

"Bonded"
The arms connect as one in a heart-shape form. In the lower right, a bare bottom peeks through. Tremendous contrast is available with Chlorite between the textured (very light - almost white - green) and polished (deep black) finishes.

A good bit of buffing is still required on both pieces.

Day 4 -- Wet sand and hot wax

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After a lot of tedious wet sanding with three different grades of sandpaper, the stone is heated up with a torch to 'open the pores' in preparation for the first of several layers of wax. This brings out the richness of the stone's color. Tomorrow the wax will be polished.


I'm nearly finished with the final sanding of the alabaster piece. I will be waxed first thing tomorrow morning.view large

Day 3 -- Four Excedrin Geltabs...

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This morning I woke up with extreme pain in my hammer arm. I'm paying the price for doing two stones instead of one. Two Excedrin and I'm good to go.

The Alabaster is frustrating after working with Chlorite. Its so soft making it easy to carve but also easy to bruise and damage. It doesn't hold a texture very well either.

In the center of this piece, look for the sailboat in full sail. The surrounding storm rises over the ocean swells at the bottom. On the left is a rough portion of raw stone -- the rocky coast threatens.

Tomorrow we sand, wax and polish...

Day 2 -- Starting a Second Piece

Today I pretty much finished the carving. Now the piece is ready for sanding, waxing and polishing. The wax and polish will turn surfaces glossy black.

I had a lot of fun with the textures (not particularly well captured with this photo). I'm pleased with how this is turning out but it's still not nearly as abstract as I had envisioned. I'm anxious to see the added contrast from polish & wax.

This is so much fun, I'm finding myself getting totally lost in it. HP is a million miles away right now. Hmmm, maybe retirement wont be so boring after all....

I'm a bit ahead of the class so I've asked Lorri if I can begin a new piece using some left-over alabaster. She graciously agreed.
This time I'm determined to create something much more abstract. In this block I see a set of full sails against a rocky shore. We'll see.....

Day 1 -- Design is Taking Shape. My arm is tired.

I am really enjoying this. My arm is also getting very tired.

Changing design directions midstream seems to have fuelled a creative burst and a sense of elation almost.

This stone, while somewhat harder than the alabaster most are using in the class, is very well behaved and homogeneous. Very nice to work with.

I've arrived at a design. The figures will be joined together at the arm in a heart-shaped area that will be polished and gloss black in the end. The faces will be similarly polished ovals. The rest will be textured.

By the end of the first day, I'm thoroughly enjoying the journey -- anxious to return in the morning.

Day 1 -- Initial Concept

I started out with a (very un-original) concept of a "lovers ring" consisting of two abstract face figures connected by an open loop (see sketch).

The first couple hours were spent with a point chisel removing roughly half of the stone's overall bulk.

This was then followed by a "pusher" chisel consisting of a wide toothed tip. This chisel leaves a distinctive combed texture.

Right away I'm faced with a challenge: there's an enormous tendency to drift away from the abstract design toward a more realistic proportioned design. By noon, I have begun to realize I've totally disconnected from my original concept. I will fight back with some furious chiselling. I really want for this piece to be an artistic abstraction of some sort. Lorri, the Poudre High Art teacher and accomplished sculptor is also taking -- and assisting -- the class. She relays to me her extreme difficulty in breaking away from the "Loveland Realism" style of ultra-realistic sculpture. This helps me break a little farther from my current direction toward realism.

Day 1 -- The Tools; the Rock

Within the first 10 minutes of class, were we're placed in front of an array of chlorite and Alabaster stones and instructed to "Choose one. Now."

This was a bit intimidating. Fortunately for me, I had visited the end of last week's class and had been offered the opportunity to pre-select my stone.

I chose one of the two remaining blocks of Chlorite. This is a black stone that is similar to those used by the Shona. It comes from Canada. Interestingly, Zimbabwe attaches a huge tariff to stone exports making it impractical to use their stones for carving outside of their country. Their intent is to discourage local sculptors from taking their now-valued carving skills outside the country.

After finding a spot in the classroom (hosted in the Poudre High wood and metal shop) we were briefly introduced to the tools and set loose. In a daze, we collectively stared in silence at our cold hard stones, wondering what lies within.

Day 1 -- Meet Collen

Collen comes from the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe. The Shona have become quite famous for the unique sculpture. Collen's father is a sculptor as are most of his 20 brothers and sisters.

This is the fourth and final week of classes Collen has taught here in Fort Collins.

Collen's work is currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Fort Collins.

The Class

During the week of August 8-12, Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting a Shona Stone Carving class taught by renowned Shona sculptor Collen Nyanhongo, assisted by local artist & teacher Lorri Acott Fowler. While attending this class, I will be posting daily observations and photos.

This class is being taught at Poudre High School in Fort Collins.