Graeme Mitcheson – Stone Sculptor, ARBS

4 of the 5 sculptors with their work.

Here are latest bunch of graduates from one of my weekend carving courses. 5 people took part with Rob having to leave early with his Brancusiesque sculpture thus missing out on the photo. They all worked extremely hard for the 2 days, especially on the Saturday when enough stone was removed to re surface the drive at Hall Farm. The results were excellent. Rachael made a Randall Page style fruit, Donna a beautiful polished ancaster limestone water feature, Steve a tall twisting piece and Neil made….erm…..lets just say he worked really hard and made some interesting shapes! Well done to everyone it was good fun and you all have something to be proud of even if you are not quite sure what it is meant to be !

The kids make a start on the sculptural seating

The kids at Rawlins College have made a start on the sculptural seating which will stay in their “Hub” when it is finished. They have worked their socks off so far and I will post images of their efforts later this week.

Well done to the 5 dusty troopers who took part in this weekends stone carving course. As you can see, we created 5 very good pieces over the course of the weekend. It is always interesting to see what ideas they bring with them on the saturday morning, Jonathan’s hugging sculpture, Carol’s dove, Robert’s intricate “eye of Udjat” and Martin’s large abstract wobbly piece were all reasonably achievable in 2 days, however Wendy, as ever (this was her 3rd visit) decided that carving a single block of stone was just not for her. So, after much scouring of the stone yard we decided to construct a series of 3 interlocking pieces. The end product was a huge success I thought. She used 2 triangular stones and a larger square block on the bottom top support them. Once assembled, she then spent Sunday practicing and then carving inscriptions into each stone, altogether quite impressive. Equally impressive was the dedication of the other four chiselers who stuck manfully to their task despite sore wrists and aching arms. All worth it in the end though as everyone just about put the finishing touches to their sculptures at around 5 o’clock, loaded up their dusty sculptures into their cars and returned home, calling in at a convenient supermarket to collect a tube of Deep Heat and a bottle of Radox of course.

5 dusty stone carvers

Some dogs really do spend too much time in the bathroom.

I have just returned from a 5 day stint on the Isle of Sheppey where I have been helping my good friend and fellow sculptor Richard Perry to run some stone carving workshops as part of a sculpture project he is working on down there. Having leaped out of bed at 10 to 4 on Saturday night/Sunday morning, I trundled down in my yellow truck, affectionately known as the “custard coupe”, to join Richard  and set up for the first of  2 workshops on a housing estate in Rushenden on the Island. The workshops were well attended and hugely productive so a good day was had. We continued running daily workshops, gradually getting to know some of the characters on the estate, many returned on a number of occasions to do more stone carving or quite often just for a chat. Once I had familiarised myself with the orange dogs that are native to Sheppey and grown accustomed to Richard’s erratic driving around the Island (and round and round Herne Bay Travelodge) a thoroughly enjoyable time was had. Richard encouraged the residents of the estate to create their own personally designed fish. They then carved them into small slabs of stone which will create a path near his larger sculpture later this year. Richard is quite useful with a chisel and his work can be seen at www.richardperrysculpture.com – just don’t ask him directions to hotels in Kent !

My relief carved fish for Richard's path

The stone carving courses that I am running in April and May are now fully booked. I will sort out another couple of dates for later in the year and post them on here. I still run individual tuition during the week though if you are keen to come and learn in the meantime.

Someone took this picture of the fork lift driver and me sharing an intimate moment last week installing the Market Warsop sculpture. I must admit, I dread installing the big sculptures. I will usually have spent several weeks or months intricately carving a stone and then I put my faith in someone else and a machine to finish the job, all very stressful. Added to which, when I have carved the piece in the workshop it is to all intents and purposes complete, if any more stone is knocked off it after that – it was not meant to be! Anyway, this install went as well as any and it is always a great relief when it is done.

I will be running 2 stone carving weekends in the coming months. The 1st is in April but is fully booked, the 2nd is on the 22nd and 23rd of May, I still have spaces available on this one. The cost is £130 fo the weekend and includes all stone, tools and many cups of tea. The courses are designed to be productive and fun but they are hard work. There are more details on my website at www.chisel-it.co.uk . They are aimed at beginners although many people have returned a number of times to carve more stuff. We try to get everyone to complete a sculpture so they can take it home at the end of the course although some people equip themselves with tools and finish them off themselves. I have been running courses for nearly 15 years and  there have been sculptures of pretty much everything including violins, dolphins, horses, many heads, penguins, pelicans, sundials, naked torsos, water features, abstract pieces, legs, shells and an alien from the movie “Alien”. The oldest person to attend was a lady who travelled all the way from Portsmouth and she was 82, proving that anyone can have a go.