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Thirteenth
Annual |
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Limestone Sculpture Symposium 2009 |
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The annual symposium is held in the heart of
Indiana limestone country. Participants set up in a large field at the
Bybee Stone Company located in Elletsville, 5 miles from Bloomington. For
a week, June 7-12, 2009, carvers of all levels learned about the rich
limestone carving tradition from professionals who have an extensive
background in creating limestone sculpture. For more information on the
Symposium or to enroll in the next session, see the
information links below.
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I started out with a stone
48"x24"x12" and decided to split it into three pieces. This would
give me sculptures small enough to be able to carry to art shows.
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I drilled a line of holes and placed the slips and wedges into them.
I tapped down the wedges, going back and forth until I heard the pitch
of the tapping get higher.
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As the pitch increases the stone will eventually crack, hopefully in a
straight line, but sometimes the stone has a mind of its own. |
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I took the largest of the three pieces to carve this ribbon design. The
scale of the maquette to the stone is 1:3. I used proportional
calipers to enlarge the model. |
With the 3" pitching tool, I broke off large chunks to get down to
the profile of the design.
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I began carving with a pneumatic hammer and point chisel. I also drilled
holes for hollowing out the center. |
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I continued shaping the stone with the point chisel and carved out the
drilled hole through to the other side.
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By the end of he week, I had carved down to the basic shape. At this
point I was using a rondel-shaped tooth chisel.
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Here is the back view of the sculpture. I still have to thin it
down some more and carve in the final textures, but I will do that when
I return home. |
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Amy Brier, the director and founder of the symposium, works on an
intricate design for a bench.
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Janey Weston, the letter carving instructor, is carefully following the
edge of a letter.
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Charlie Hughes, also a master calligrapher, used hand tools to carve the
V groove for a letter.
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Figure carving instructor, George Bauer, is carving a figure within a
box.
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Bill Holladay puts the finishing touches with a rasp on his figure
carving. |
Instructor Tim
deChristopher and Sharon Licata discuss the design of her
sculpture. |
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Calvin Babich grinds the surface of another of his large outdoor
sculptures.
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Josiah Updegraff breaks off big chunks of stone with the pitching tool. |
Scott Vore drilled large holes with his new core drill.
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Jim Adams carved this interesting creature.
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Katie Bell, from Northeast Harbor ME, draws with a brush on her stone.
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Brier Frasier, from Bloomington, is hollowing out the center of her
stone. |
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Sharon Fullingim carves a falcon in flight against the clouds.
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Doug Day studies his carving of an abstract figure.
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Chuck Dreis, the 'awesome intern', hollows out the inside of his first
carving.
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Randy Szarzynski drilled a series of holes to hollow out his design. |
CJ Miller uses a diamond saw to accurate cuts on his abstract eagle.
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Dick Beeson puts in the final details with a small rasp.
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I had split the the 48"x24"x12" block into three pieces for the
sculptures I planned to start at the symposium. |
I sketched out the design for Energy Source on the 6" wide
side piece broken off from the original block.
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The silhouette was cut out with a diamond blade on a grinder. A
hole was drilled to locate the center of the circle on both sides of the
stone. |
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The pitching tool quickly removed the scrap material from the profile of
the third sculpture, Mobius.
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Using the point chisel and the 1" pneumatic hammer, I began to carve the
basic shapes and proportions.
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The form is revealed by establishing the dominant planes.
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I drilled a series of holes, then chiseled out the honeycombed matrix to
quickly break through to the other side of the sculpture.
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Working more deliberately, I began to thin down the wall thickness.
I left extra stone on the bottom to maintain a steady base, it was later
removed.
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When I returned home to my studio, I finished carving the
three sculptures I started at the Symposium. I glued in steel
strips to Energy Source and added painted accents to both.
A tooth chisel texture was applied to the outside surface of
Mobius Variation No. 2.
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Energy
Source
Limestone, Steel
36 1/2"x12"x81/2" |
Mobius Variation
No. 2
Limestone
23 `/2"x16"x10" |
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