CARVING STONE
In Greece I attempted to carve into the dead trees I had either resourced from the coast or had on the land. Now I like not knowing what I’m doing but really skills knowledge is essential when wanting to craft anything. I tried to intuitively work with a number of tools but vowed on my return to the UK I would sign up to some classes.
The Sculpture Gallery in Leeds caught my eye and I hot footed it to David Iredale’s class. It was brilliant.
http://www.thesculpturegallery.co.uk
I’m not easy to teach as I have such a strong process I don’t like to be directed but I slipped easily into hearing snd following David’s instruction. Every piece I make has to be something, I didn’t want to make a test piece. I was all in. It was much harder than I thought, of course and David kept returning and suggesting where I might place my tools, at what angle, at what pressure as well as resolving mistakes and problem solving.
I was shattered but fully satisfied after day one. Two tired to make preparations for day two but the shapes carved in the stone suggested a belly to me with a soft pudenda below it.
It was a much subtler carve than the day before and I wasn’t working from a model or drawings but a curious mix of my felt sense of my body and David’s knowledge from studies of models through sculpting and life drawing.
Ok it’s an intimate area to work on but I was so enthralled with the process I wasn’t bashful and David was professional and respectful.
I experienced a visceral sense of my own body through the carving as if I too was coming into being.
I wanted to include my c-section scar and remembered the slicing in the operating theatre and my daughter emerging and this was somehow held in the stone I was operating on.
I wanted to honour the vulva , even if it’s not entirely accurate I didn’t want to shy away from its frilly edges. I’m ham fisted with a mallet and Chisel having to conjure the most intimate area with love and care . Without shame.
I was pleased with the quiet monumentality of the piece. It changed something in me , bringing me up to date with my body as I turn 60.
