The Shape of Uncertainty

'The Shape of Uncertainty' - Kentish Ragstone - 1.1m x 500mm x 300mm

On the Other Side

When you look at the photos below you could easily be mistaken that it was the middle of autumn! These were in fact taken just before Christmas and New Year! Despite the mild weather and what would normally be a real motivator, progress on the sculptures still seems slow.  This might be down to the fact I have moved from working on the large block and I am now having a go at one of the smaller editions. The ragstone bolder has had any faults and softer limestone removed and I have raised it up for ease of working.  So far I’m pleased with the quality of the material and everything seems solid and sound.  The stone will be cut and opened up and carved into a narrow twisting loop. As I want to reduce the amount of heavy vibration on the stone, the center hole will be cut out with a grinder and not drilled, as will a majority of the carving. The model I am working from has been useful to get me to this stage, but now I need to start looking afresh at the lines and form in the block if I want to make the twist successful.

New Arrivals at Quarry Farm

The arrival of the Ragstone blocks and boulders has brought with it much anticipation. I can be a very patient man, but when you have preselected quarry blocks for so many specific ideas you just want to transpose them onto the stone instantly. I have a vague idea as to how long each piece should take but you can never quite tell. Everything from the weather to lack of light, my tools and most importantly my health always plays a major factor in completing work for a deadline. The intention is to start with the 2-ton slab and once the blocking out is complete and I have a sense of how the stone is behaving I can then turn my attention to the two medium sized carvings. I always like to have several sculptures on the go at once when making a small body of work. I believe that the thought process and concepts from working on one sculpture will feed directly into the next and vice versa.

In The Hands of The Stone Gods

Selecting the right quarry block for a new sculpture was the priority yesterday. The Gallagher's Hermitage Lane quarry is managing to get some nice large blocks out at the moment and it was this one in particular that I was immediately drawn to because of its length. The ragstone, like many natural stones can be unpredictable and it's important to look for sound surfaces. There are several obvious faults and flaws visible on the quarry block but these look like they run out. Sometimes, others are only made apparent when the stone is opened up and explored through cutting. Luckily for me the opportunity to do this in the quarry allows me to see how the stone could behave and if it's right for the purpose of carving. It also helps me reduce the weight of a 5 ton block to just under 2.5 ton, something I would have had to do at the studio! The dimensions I'm now left with after sawing 3 sides is a block, 2 m x 1 m x 500mm....more than enough to carve the idea I've been wanting to do for a while. 

The Lure

Moby!

'Moby'- Kilkenny Limestone and Oak plinth. 2m x 30 cm x 30 cm

Stones were the first hammers!

Most hammers were selected for practical reasons like a convenient fit in the hand or appropriate hardness.  Archaeologists can distinguish ancient hammer stones from naturally formed pebbles because of where they were discovered and evidence of wear. Some hammer stones were even given spiritual significance. Below are some sculptures and small maquettes Ive been experimenting with, exploring a similar form using a variety of different stone types.

 

Kilkenny Limestone.

Carrara Marble

Ancaster Weatherbed Limestone

Kilkenny Limestone

Ancaster Limestone

Ancaster Weatherbed Limestone

On the look out for some Jade and Quarts!!

Ancient ceremonial jade axes are relatively common.  They were probably valuable from the very beginning because jade is rare, working it is difficult and people cared enough about these objects to carry them great distances from the sources of the stone.  In his book The Mind in the Cave, David Lewis Williams described the round quarts hammer stones used by southwestern Native Americans. Quarts stones possess triboluminescence, which means that they produce flashes of light in their interiors when rubbed together. This was particularly effective in dark spaces.  This does not necessarily happen when they are used as hammers, but it is felt, then that strange quality by itself might have been enough to confer spiritual significance onto quartz hammer stones. In some cases pairs of quarts pebbles are still referred to as “lightning stones’ or “lucky stones.”  These are ‘power tools’ of a different sort than the way we use the term today.