Vancouver Spring a Success

My friends, George Pratt and Andrew Pothier and I presented an advanced stone carving course last week in Delta, BC, Canada. George and I are professional stone sculptors with over 70 years experience between us, and Andrew is owner of Pothier Enterprises Ltd., and was our convener for the event at his premises.

Our objective was two fold: to show participants the skills and tools that will elevate them to professional sculptors and to gain the insights needed to competently instruct others at symposia. We had 15 people attend and although we had stipulated only experienced participants apply, we had a few inexperienced carvers attend and we were inclusive enough to manage them.

One tool we introduced was the stationary bench grinder. This is not new technology, as the technique has been used for centuries in other cultures. It is a way to produce small scale original stone sculptures quickly and efficiently using exotic stones like jade, sodalite and coloured granites. George came up with a standard shape that has only convex surfaces and is simple enough to carve, but challenging in symmetry – an egg! All participants dove in with gusto and each created an egg in either jade or granite.

We also covered the many aspects of pneumatic and hand tools, marketing, composition, base making, monumental sculpture approaches and more.

We three received many compliments from participants who felt the event was seriously worth it. Perhaps we’ll do it again next year.