Graeme Mitcheson – Stone Sculptor, ARBS

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

Harry Parkes with our chosen block

The vast quarry near Kilkenny

I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Kilkenny in Ireland. With me was Harry Parkes, a terrific character with bags of energy and a million great stories. Harry is a former Bevin Boy miner who has been instrumental in organising and fundraising for the Bevin Boys Memorial which I have been asked to create. Together we set out to find the right piece of stone for the memorial. We had an idea of the sort of thing we wanted, a craggy rock, not polished or sawn,  flat enough for me to carve and tall enough to be impressive. The colour of Kilkenny especially when wet, we knew was reminiscent of coal. A sawn piece of stone is easy – you jot your dimensions down on a piece of paper and give them to a quarry to cut. A rough boulder these days is often a different kettle of fish, especially when it comes to Kilkenny limestone as it is usually sawn fro the rock face. After much searching around this enormous quarry, we eventually settled on a the perfect block. It was scooped up like an enormous biscuit by one of the mammoth machines and set to one side ready for posting to Ashby de la Zouch. (The lady at Paulstown Post Office inisted the lump be placed on the scales). All this searching around the dry quarry left Harry and me gasping for a cuppa which we duly enjoyed in the sunshine while admiring Kilkenny Castle. So, a very productive trip was had and a good start to thge project. Just waiting for the postie now….

I cannot remember the last time I picked up a chisel. Every now and then a period comes along like this when I seem to be doing everything else but chisel stone, which, at the end of the day is what I get paid to do. Having installed the Market Warsop sculpture a couple of weeks ago and then exhibited at the “Sock” in Loughborough, I have travelled to Northumberland a couple of times this week to run workshops and to attend an interview for a project, prior to that I had been doing all of the preparation which precedes that sort of thing. In about an hour I am off to Ireland to get some Kilkenny Limestone for the Bevin Boys Memorial and next week I will be helping my friend Richard Perry to run some stone carving workshops on the Isle of Sheppey! I am looking forward to having a break from all this madness and to getting some overdue carving done later this week, if I can remember what a chisel looks like that is.

Stone carving chisels

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.