The Stone Festival at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham, was back last month (September) for a second year to spread the message of the heritage of stone in the North Pennines – an area the organisers describe as a hotspot of stone use. Natural Stone Specialist magazine joined more than 6,000 other visitors who went along to enjoy the event.

Sculptor and dry stone waller Ewan Allinson, one of the organisers of the Festival, summed up the event like this: “Once again, the Festival struck a chord with both locals and visitors. In particular, the presence of the group of sculptors hard at work in the grounds of the Bowes Museum proved a real draw.

"In spite of this high level of public interest, the sculptors were able to get their heads down and complete their pieces. The museum is so enamoured by the finished works that they’ve asked to keep them on display for six months.

"Louise Plant’s piece, hewn from the local Catcastle sandstone, is a fascinating departure for her. In place of the arched and curved forms more typical of her ouevre, this piece is a highly faceted, almost architectural response to both the hardness of the stone and the geometries of the museum and its setting.

"It sculpts the light like a giant galena crystal, for which the dale was once so extensively mined. Its multitude of right angles were a challenge for her and she made good use of festival sculptor Russ Coleman whose masonry background helped her master this new language of exactness.

"Local masons who were just popping by to see what was going on were also drafted in by Louise as she sought to capitalise on our wealth of local skills.

"It should be said that Louise is highly adept at winning masons over – they can tend to look askance at the sculptor’s free approach and she was able to brush any such misgivings away with ease. Indeed, this is perhaps the key step forward with this year’s festival. Here in Teesdale we have the stone, the skills and the enthusiasm to become a resource of national significance for sculptors wanting to work in stone.

"As Louise described it in one of the Festival talks, her Royal British Society of Sculptors residency at Pietrosanto in Italy had illustrated to her how a centuries old stone sector could boost its fortunes by responding to the needs of sculptors from across the world.

"Here in Teesdale, we have everything we need to do just that in a UK context. The two Stone Festivals [this year and last] have won over businesses in the local stone sector and there is now enthusiasm for the idea of attracting sculptors to make use of Teesdale’s facilities.

"Indeed, many local businesses recognise design as a key need in adding value within their own businesses and a healthy symbiosis with sculptors can only help to develop this new horizon."

As Louise herself summarised it: "This project has the potential and background to move into a much bigger vision, capitalising on the energy, creativity, skills, expertise and experiences developed and identified during the past two years."

The Lottery money that has funded the two Stone Festivals at Barnard Castle will come to an end before next year, so whether there will be more Festivals there remains to be seen, although Ewan achoes the thoughts of all those who enjoyerd this year's event when he says "it would be a great shame not to build on the momentum".

There are pictures and a report from the Festival in the October issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine.