A community carved in stone

Stone carving is an age-old art form that has captured the imagination and heart of hundreds of artists of the Pacific Northwest and around the globe.

Last Saturday The NorthWest Stone Sculptor Association (NWSSA) hosted the 4th annual Outdoor Stone Sculpture Show at Suttle Lake Camp.

The exhibit was the last day of a weeklong symposium that was open to all levels from beginners who have never carved stone before to the experienced sculptor.

Over 50 beginner and intermediate carvers came to learn and grow as artists and to try new things in a supportive environment. And professional sculptors gathered to work on projects, share information, get inspiration, and help beginners.

During the symposium the public was encouraged to come by and watch world-class stone carvers create their art. There was a tremendous volume of stone dust; the noise of saws, blades and chisels; the miles of cords stringing out across the work field linking the easy-up tents to generators and power sources. There was a huge variety of stone being used: jade, basalt, alabaster, marble, calcite, quartz, onyx, and more. To see them first in the raw, then shaped, textured and polished was an incredible experience.

Every stone has unique properties; and every piece of stone its own personality, often hidden until the carver begins his or her interior exploration. Imagine a hunk of marble morphing into a sculpture of a ponderosa pine tree.

Sculptor Doug Wiltshire, director and an instructor of the week-long symposium, works with all types of stone, hard and soft. The Eugene resident also has over 30 years' experience as a master jeweler and teaches jewelry making at the University of Oregon.

"Our NWSSA symposiums are geared around educational opportunities, while nurturing the community of stone sculptors," Wiltshire said. "We provide a support system to our members.

"We're not a bunch of artists that get together to break rocks; we are here to build community, and we give ourselves a pat on the back by sharing knowledge with each other," he added.

From classical hand tools to new high-tech machining tools and techniques, the instructors provided knowledge and inspiration for all participants.

The NWSSA orders stone for the artists and trucks pieces in. And one piece of Colorado marble weighed 2,600 pounds and will be used as a community piece that the sculptors will be carving over time and donating back to Suttle Lake Camp.

Professional sculptor and NWSSA member Mark Andrew was chosen as group leader to come up with a design for the huge hunk of marble. Andrew carves and teaches at various symposia with other stone carvers and is inspired to produce public art.

"We want to create a community piece to give as a gift to the camp to show our appreciation for them having us be here," explained Andrew. "We are picking a few people to spearhead it and then any one of the sculptors can come over and add to it."

One of the main elements to the design is an osprey, a bird of prey often seen in Central Oregon around lakes and other water bodies.

During the exhibit on Saturday, Wiltshire noted, "There was a lot of creativity going on this year. The caliber of carving that was happening here is very rare in the world, because in many places it's a lost

tradition.

"The NWSSA is bringing in college students that are already taking carving classes and are trying to encourage them into another level of carving," he added. "Symposia have taken place across Europe, notably in Israel, Egypt, Japan and more recently in Taiwan, China and South Korea and that's one of the reasons we have such a strong Japanese presence at our symposiums."

Mitsuo Saiki from Japan is a professional sculptor of impressive ability and carved over four exquisite marble pieces during the symposium. He was an honored guest and an important part of a flourishing exchange of sculptural ideas between the East and West.

"I have been carving for 30 years and am a fourth-generation carver," Saiki told The Nugget through an interpreter also from Japan. "My favorite stone to work with is marble."