Ludlow
After the success of the first carving festival at Ludlow last year, run to help raise money for St Laurence Church restoration fund, it was decided to stage another carving festival this year on the last weekend in May.
This time the 23 stonemasons and carvers who took part were joined by five wood carvers.
Once again the participants and the public who visited the event were asked to vote on the piece they liked best and this year both groups chose the work of Carrie Horwood of Catseye Carving.
The carvers were asked to produce work on the theme of ‘the Angel and Freeing the Spirit’. Carrie’s carving is of an angel blowing into her hands, symbolically freeing a spirit.
The stone used by the stone carvers was sandstone from Grinshill Quarry Nr Shrewsbury. At the end of the weekend the work produced during the event was auctioned to raise money for the church. Carrie’s Angel went under the hammer for £660.
There were prizes from tool company G Gibson of £100 vouchers for the company’s tools. As Carries won both the carvers’ choice and the public’s choice prizes, she had £200, which she put towards the gentle, quiet Woodpecker flexible driver percussion hammer that Gibson introduced last year.
Sadly, Carrie was not able to put it to use straight after the festival because during the event she tore a ligament when her foot went down a hole in the ground and had to take some time off work afterwards.
She says she will write a report on the Woodpecker and post it on her website. If you would like to read it when Carrie has finished it, visit her website at www.catseyecarving.co.uk.
As for the festival, Carrie says: “What an amazing weekend!”
Clones
by Marc Kelly, curator of the Clones stone symposium
The Clones Stone Sculpture Symposium 2012, 'Mor Chuid Cloch', on 21–26 May was described by many as a great success.
The public were treated to watching six stone sculptors produce a sculpture each and also had the opportunity to try their hand at stone carving themselves. Each of the artists involved took schools groups and members of the public to an area where they could learn to carve the local sandstone. This was where the success lay, with the initial aim of the symposium being to engage the public with stone through the artists.
Six boulders of the local Morrow Sandstone were brought in for the sculptors, each sculptor choosing a block that matched their ideas or designs. While some responded to local history for inspiration, others reacted to the shape of the stones and exploited the heights and angles which the blocks naturally contained.
Cornish born Jason Ellis was one of the artists who took the latter route and left Clones with a beautifully worked piece that has an immediate draw to any passing glance of the sun or the eye. Strict attention to level planes and straight lines complement the stone while revealing a unique style and approach by this well known sculptor.
I, Marc Kelly, worked on a design based on a wonderfully decorated 'Gold Dress Fastener' found near Clones in 1820. I felt the shape of the item worked well as a peace symbol for cross border relations, given Clones’s close proximity to Northern Ireland. Beginning with a large boulder I worked the stone until the week's end, when the form was revealed.
Ennis sculptor Barry Wrafter perhaps thrilled the visiting spectators most with a dramatic design inspired not so much by the work as the name of an 18th Century local stone carver. He was affectionately known as the 'Puppy Skull Carver' because that was known for carving. Using that soubriquet alone as inspiration, Barry carved a half puppy face, half skull that was a huge hit – and it’s easy to see why from the picture here (on the right), with great design and technical skills on display.
Alsion Bole from Smithborough based her design on the film 'The Butcher Boy' that was written by Clones-born Pat McCabe and filmed in the town. Her 'The Pig’s Head' was taken from a scene in the movie and produced in great fashion by Alison, much to the satisfaction of onlookers. The well worked form drew a fond and affectionate reaction.
Architectural stone carver and sculptor Stephen Burke left Clones with a brilliant example of how using an old design with a modern twist can be so effective. A keystone from the town Markethouse carved in reverse was a well devised concept and executed with great skill and understanding.
Sligo artist Martha Quinn graced Co Monaghan with a design steeped deep in local heritage and craft. The Clones Lace, a highly accomplished skill, was established in Clones during Famine times. Inspired by the fine detail, Martha took her own interpretation of the lace design and sculpted it into a cut cylinder of the sandstone.
While the six sculptors worked tirelessly through the week, The Markethouse, Clones, hosted an exhibition of current works by each of the visiting sculptors alongside items of significant historical reference donated by Monaghan County Museum. There were also talks and lectures presented in the grand building. And from Monday, 4 June, the six works produced during the symposium joined the public display at the Markethouse.