Vandalia "Chiseled" Stone Symposium

Monday, Meg and I visited the Vandalia "Chiseled" stone symposium in Vandalia, Ohio, which is just a few miles north of Dayton (where I was born 49 years ago). We had a friend, Matt Weir, who was participating.

This was Matt's 9th day in a row for working on his large scale stone sculpture. He was holding up well - in fact, he was almost finished! The front side of his piece had a pixelated brain, which made a statement about crossroads and evolution.

He showed us the design for the back of the sculpture, which was a theater stage - as a metaphor for Life.

Moving 'stage right' (or upwind - however you want to look at it) was John Leon of Cincinnati, Ohio. John has an impressive list of accomplishments over his 30 year career. He is giving a video interview as part of the documentation process. The people who set up this symposium did a fantastic job - everything was 1st class!

I particularly enjoyed meeting Todd Frahm of Solsberry, Indiana. He is currently teaching stone sculpture at Indiana University in Bloomington.

He is carving a tree frog on a light bulb. I'm sure that we'll be seeing great things from Todd in the future.

This is Lasha Khidasheli who currently lives and works in Charlotte, N.C. He is originally from Georgia - not our Georgia, but the 'Old World' Georgia.

His sculpture, entitled "Sunset", uses negative space to let light through. I liked this photo because it included the sweeping architecture of the Recreational Center, in the background.

This is Patrick Sullivan of Squamish, B.C. Canada.

The staff of the symposium had provided smaller blocks of stone for kids to carve. There were hundreds of school children who had the opportunity of seeing the symposium first hand, and had a chance to see the process and talk to the sculptors. I hope that it 'lights a fire' in some of them, and produces a new generation of stone sculptors.

The Don and Tom Show - it was a 5 hour drive, each way, so we split it up with an overnight visit with my old college roommate (and fellow artist), Tom Mitts. (all photos Meg White).

The Abbey of Gethsemani

Meg was recently asked to submit designs for 14 Stations of the Cross, for a local church. She was directed to see the stone reliefs by Peter Watts, which are housed in the Abbey of Gethsemani. A visit was scheduled for Friday the 13th, so, I tagged along.

The monastery is nestled in wooded knobs a few miles south of Bardstown, Kentucky.

One of the first things to grab my attention were the small signs that asked for silence. (we were happy to oblige).

We had the privilege of being shown the sculptures ( and other art pieces like this font in native limestone) by Brother Paul Quenon. You can see some of his photography and poetry on the Gethsemani website www.monks.org.

The reliefs are installed in a long gallery-like hallway.

The Stations of the Cross were carved in high relief from an English limestone that is very similar to our Indiana Limestone.

Peter Watts also created this expressive sculpture. The banner translates from Latin, "I love because I love".

Outside, we were shown this bronze by Louisville sculptor, Bob Lockhart.

On a terrace above Bob's sculpture were these iron crosses. The Abbey has been in continual use at this location for over 150 years.

Walking back down the hill, we found this message spelled out in seeds from a tree.

Inside a walled garden is another version of the Stations of the Cross. This one is made from sand-cast bronze attached to concrete plinths.

Before Brother Paul Quenon left us to return to his duties, he pointed out this monument by another Louisville sculptor that we know, David Kocka.

The grounds of the monastery provides ample opportunities for quiet contemplation.

The Abbey is certainly a spiritual 'hot spot'. We enjoyed the visit immensely. (all photos on this post are by Meg White)

St. Theresa Installation

Friday, July 30 was the day agreed upon for installing the new stone bases for the marble statues in St. Theresa Catholic Church's Cemetery.

Vessels Trucking had donated the use of their truck and trailer to transport the carved bases to Charlestown Monument Company where they were lettered. They had also transported the cut blocks from Victor Oolitic Stone Company in Bloomington, Indiana (where the stone was quarried) to our studio. Francis Mattingly had donated the use of his tractor (and time) to set the 1,500 lb. stones and the 2 marble statues.

We set the base for the St. Joseph sculpture first. Left to right: Marion Manning, me, Frankie Vessels and Pat Barr. Also present was Hurschel Hardesty, Meg White and Francis Mattingly who operated his tractor.

We rigged up the base for the Virgin Mary sculpture next.

Then, we slowly moved toward one of two concrete footers that had been made by Bill Youart.

It was a bit of a trick to get the rigging out from under the 1,500 lb. bases. There were enough people to make it go smoothly. There's no way I could have done this by myself.

The marble statues had been in safe storage in one of the buildings on the church grounds, while the footers and bases were being made. I was very impressed with these pieces, which I'm sure are Italian made.

We carefully loaded them for the trip over to the cemetery.

The next step involved drilling holes in the 2 bases and in the bottoms of the marble statues for the stainless steel pins. Frankie is checking my progress with a square to make sure that I keep the holes straight.

We set the Virgin Mary sculpture first. After setting the piece 'dry', we lifted it again to apply the monument epoxy.

Once St. Joseph was set into place, the hard part was over. The sculptures are now back as centerpieces for the cemetery. (all photos by Meg White)

Lightning on the Line

Last week, we got a 6:05 a.m. wake-up call from a lightning bolt hitting our phone line.

Lightning entered our house through this telephone interface. It took out a telephone, answering machine, 2 wall receptacles and a computer. It's always something.

I finally finished this granite bench, entitled "Felicity". It took a LOT longer (and more diamond blades) than I originally planned. Granite is not a sculptural medium to be taken lightly - it's tough! You can see more pictures and pricing for this piece on http://stonesculpturesforsale.blogspot.com.

I just finished restoring this Daisy birdbath for Edith Bingham. She had commissioned the original piece in April, 1991.

It inspired me to make this "Wild Sunflower" birdbath.

You can see more information about this piece, including pricing, on http://stonesculpturesforsale.blogspot.com.

On Sunday, July 18, Jim and Virginia Harrington celebrated their 50th anniversary in this beautiful lodge at Camp Carlson.

Before we went home, I wanted to see if I could find this cave that I remembered from my Boy Scout days. I was about age 12 when I'd last visited this place.

Civil War Re-enactment in Brandenburg

(all photos by Meg White. If you use any of these images, be sure to give Meg credit.)

Saturday, July 10, Meg and I drove down to the riverfront park in Brandenburg to watch the Civil War re-enactment.

Turned out that one of our good friends, Eddie Franke, was involved. This was Eddie's 'crib' for the weekend.

The battle began at 3. Eddie is in the light blue shirt. His son is the one past him with the leveled gun.

They faced calvary charges...

...and cannon fire.

The dead littered the field.

Eventually, the confederate leader had to admit defeat.

The union leader leveled charges as they negotiated the surrender.

The crowd loved it. Great job, guys!