Graeme Mitcheson – Stone Sculptor, ARBS

Some friends stroke my mussels

Great to see the mussel sculpture is Conwy is still being appreciated. Some friends of mine sent me this photo last week. Last time I saw it, the sculpture was keeping its polish where people have been touching it but is fading in other places. In that respect, some more tall people like Paul (at the back)  going to see it would be useful. Not quite so helpful, is a dog called “Chopper” who catalogues his visits to recognisable landmarks in his online diary  ”The Chopper Chronicles”. Regrettably he signed the mussel sculpture in the bottom corner in the way only dogs can. Not sure how that affects the weathering process of Kilkenny Limestone but I suggest next time you visit Conwy that you don’t touch t the bottom part of the sculpture!

I have just returned from a  weekend down in Windsor with the family, apart from the obligatory outing to Legoland with the kids, we also managed to have a nose around Eton School. The most striking thing for me was the stunning amount of graffiti chiseled into every bench, desk, door and wall you see. Some of this stuff dates back centuries and judging by the size and depth of some of the carving, probably took several hours to do. In the museum was a special bench where naughty boys would sit  to accept their punishment, this was probably the only bit of wood in the whole school without a mark on it ! Occasionally, some of the carving would be of really high quality, obviously, these boys have been on one of my stone carving weekends for a few pointers, there are more details about my courses on my main website at www.chisel-it.co.uk and I will announce some new dates for these soon. Meanwhile over in Legoland there is a sensational collection of things created solely from Lego bricks. These range from cities,buildings and landmarks through to famous people, giant dragons, motorbikes and even a marvellous portrait of the Queen. Who are the people who make these things and how do you get a job like that? They are clearly very talented and judging by some of the humour attached to some of their creation are having lots of fun doing it. My C.V will be heading down to Legoland in due course.

Some examples of work done on a weekend carving course

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 installed this sculpture in Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire today. It was a tricky operation as the site was by the stream in a particularly boggy part of the Carrs (a kind of park come nature trail). Usually, I can just turn up with a hi-ab lorry and drop it in place. Today, I hired a hi-ab to take it from the workshop to the car park for the site, craned it off onto my own pick up, drove it across the field (3 times) and assembled it using the fork lift you can see in the picture. This is always more risky as the fork lift does not have the manoeuvrability or the accuracy of a crane lift. Luckily the driver today was excellent and very patient which always helps.  The sculpture looks great on this site and it was much appreciated by the passers by that I spoke to today. So ends one of the longest running public art projects that I am ever likely to be involved in, I was first asked to make the piece in the autumn of 2008. So, 3 arts officers, a number of different sites and a few grumpy water voles later …..

Lowering the sculpture

All done, the Kilkenny Limestone sculpture in Market Warsop, Notts.

and finally there is a happy ending.

Triumphs can sometimes be disappointing.

I thought friday’s episode of Mastercrafts was a triumph for sculpture over stone masonry. In a dramatic late twist, the lady (apologies for not remembering names) beat off the competition with a fairly decent fist of a sculptural bird bath come sundial. Despite seemingly struggling for most of the show (top marks programme editors) to complete any work, she managed to show the blokes a thing or two about creativity, as well as health and safety, being the only person in the show to bother with a dust-mask whilst carving sandstone for the best part of 6 weeks.

The chiseling of the flat surface took me back to the 1st time I picked up carving tools at Loughborough Art College in 1993. The art college had 4 or 5 tutors whose primary medium was stone, needless to say, all students were expected to do their share of chiseling during the course and the result was a good sprinkling of competent stone sculptors by the end of it all.  Sadly on my recent returns to the art college, I have notheard any tapping of chisels with mallets let alone any cursing of the tutor for revealing that a hand carved flat surface is 2mm out on one edge. So, I wonder what will become of the heroic red haired dust masked chiseler from Mastercrafts? In the other episodes, the winner was awarded a short paid apprentiship with a talented maker while, rather disappointingly, her prize was to get to leave her carving 100 yards from where she made it! Ah well, at least she won’t have silicosis for her trouble.

Untitled but I am working on it.....

Early last month I installed this twisting sculpture in Nether Whitacre, North Warwickshire. I spent some time talking through ideas and themes for the work with residents of the village. I decided that there were 4 themes coming through that needed incorporating into the artwork in some way. They were all things that they felt were important in the development of the village over the years. Thus the 4 sided sculpture with the themes gradually twisting together. The 4 themes were the railway, agriculture, the rivers and the flora and fauna of the village. The stone is Woodkirk Sandstone from a quarry near Leeds. This is probably the best sandstone that I have carved, tight grained and good colour.  Unfortunately the service at the quarry can be rather unpredictable in my experience.  This sculpture is 1 of 3 that I created for the North Arden Heritage Trail during 2009. The others were in Fillongley and Ansley. You will find pictures of these on my website at www.chisel-it.co.uk

I am pleased say that I will be attending the “Sock” show in Loughborough at the end of March. I have not been to a show like this for years so am looking forward to getting out of the workshop for a couple of days and meeting some real people! I will be there with my friend Damien who tinkers with a bit of lettercutting. Being as it is the “Sock” event, I will probably bring along my Portland Limestone Stocking Feet. This is one the finest sculptures I never made, as it was a proposal for a site in an East Midlands town, I wont say which town as I plan to have a moan about them in a future blog! The carving is of my wife Ruth’s feet, she often does a spot of modelling for such projects. Unfortunately, the sculpture, which would have been 2.5 metres tall was not chosen and thus I am left with the model, but a very nice model it is too. Come and see it at the “Sock” in Loughborough on the 27th and 28th of March.

As you can see, I have moved the top half of the Kilkenny Limestone sculpture so that I can work at a comfortable height on the bottom piece. Carving work is almost done which just leaves the polishing which is probably one of the most boring jobs on earth.

Moving the sculpture

I move the sculpture using the gantry for slow and careful lifting and also a device called a split pin lewis. This means you can move it safely without risk of damaging edges by using slings etc.