DIRECT Stone Carving W/ Kailey Maher
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced
Workshop Fee: $280
Materials Fee: $230
Max Students: 6
Minimum Age: 14+
Time: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Lunch: 12:00 - 1:00 PM
Dates: May 25 - 26 (Sat/Sun) 2024
June 15-16 (Sat/Sun) 2024
June 22-23 (Sat/Sun) 2024
August 31 - Sept 1 (Sat/Sun) 2024
Required Tools: Students will need to bring their own basic set of carving tools. If you also wish to
1/2 lb Stone Carvers Hammer
Point chisel
Tooth chisel with 4-5 teeth
Rondel
Flat chisel
reccomended tools
Sculpture is three-dimensional art. Carving is a subtractive form of sculpture; that is, material is taken away by chiseling, filing, or by other means.
With regard to carving, what does “direct carving” mean? What is “direct” as opposed to another type of carving? Well, since you asked...
Direct carvers, on the other hand, do not have a predetermined idea of what the finished sculpture will look like. Instead, the direct carver works by using his or her own feelings and inclinations, carving forms that he or she finds pleasing. The sculpture is carved from what is within the sculptor.
This Course will focus on direct hand-carving techniques and three dimensional thinking. You will learn the art of stone carving through this two-day workshop, where you will be carving a piece of soapstone. Discussions of safe studio practices, stone and tool sourcing and usage and finishing techniques help make this workshop an excellent introduction to stone sculpture. Tools will be provided to use and a moderate piece of soapstone is included in the class fee. This workshop is open to all levels of skill.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn the art of stone carving from Kailey Maher, a seasoned sculptor and previous resident artist of Salem Art Works. Reserve your spot today and unlock your creative potential in the world of stone carving!
Lesson plan
Day 1
INTRODUCTIONS/ SYLLABUS/ CHOOSING A STONE
CARVING & THE SUBTRACTIVE METHOD
PERCUSSION, ABRASION & CALIBRATION:
Introduction to carving tools: Using the Point, Tooth & Flat ChiselsABRASION #1: TRANSITIONS OF SURFACE & FORM
Using the Rasps: Riffler Rasps
Day 2
Q&A
CLARIFYING THE FORM: VOLUME, SURFACE & TEXTURE
Introduction to Dremel & bit optionsABRASIONS #2: SURFACE FINISH/ POLISHING
Using Wet & Dry Sandpaper, PolishDISCUSSION ON PRESENTATION OF WORK: BASES COMPLETION OF WORK
(60-80% in all probability)
Instructor Bio:
Kailey Maher (b.1988) is a visual artist and dreamer of impossibility. In 2022 she received her BFA from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh with a focus on sculpture and ceramics. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally. She is a second-generation stone carver. As a small girl, she spent many years alongside her grandmother, who would often call her over to admire the stone she was working on, misting away the mysteries to the form hidden within.
Artist Statement: My interpretation of the natural world is explored through the language of exchange between nature and my part in it. Right now, I find myself fascinated with non-linear concepts of time and the rhythmic patterns mimicked in nature, which is not about the allocation of time, but the experience of. Mirroring its medium of stone and clay, pushing against and pulling within, my artwork is the expression of my form—an undulating essence of consciousness, a beginning and a beginning-again. Each work reflects the effects of time—shaping and reshaping, not in minutes and seconds, but a living lifetime of transformative movements of contractions and expansions intertwined in the nature of the self; ever-exposing the causeways of a life lived, unlived and yet-lived. Giving way to what is hidden within and what is exposed without.