Castelvecchio Italy Stone Carving Symposium

I am writing to you from Castelvecchio di Pescia, in northern Tuscany.  This is my first real stone carving symposium.  Many exist around the world.   We have seven sculptors here from the following countries:  Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, The Slovak Republic, Spain, Thailand, and USA.  The symposium is a way for a place to gain a sculpture garden for perhaps less money than if they outright bought sculpture suitable for outdoors.  What happens is that an organizer works with his community.  They supply the stone, the transport of such, the carving sites, usually air compressors, with hoses, electricity, and tables, etc. for the creation of the art.  Artists are given their own working space, although usually they are together on one site.  Often it is a place in which tourists and locals alike can watch the progress of the sculptures being created. 

Artists are also given places to sleep and freshen up, as well as provided all meals.  When possible, the community also gives artists a stipend to cover travel expenses and money with which to live and pay bills.  In any event, during the event, artists are taken care of and allowed to do what we do best.  We are often happy because it is fun to work in proximity to other artists and art lovers.  And we get to travel to new places! 

You may remember my friend and street painting colleague Kumiko Suzuki from my book "My Life as a Street Painter in Florence, Italy."  She is also a sculptor of stone.  She and  I came by train from Florence to Pescia and were greeted by Rita and Maurizio, who drove us to Castelvecchio.  Yesterday, the sculptors were driven up into some nearby mountains in the same valley, near a town called Vellano.  There at the quarry, we chose our desired stones to carve.  We will be working with "Pietra Serena," a stone native to these parts.  It is grey, with a light brown closer to the surface, but is sometimes confused with concrete.  You may see it in most of the construction in Tuscany, including Firenze (Florence).

Well, the wonderful sons of some of our hosts set me up with this laptop so that I could work on this blog writing while my stone was being delivered from the cave (Italian for "quarry").  My stone is in place at my work site now... I must go.  The last day of the symposium is 3 August... come on over if you can! 

Limestone and a Big Moth

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Today (yesterday now) I went to the Boneyard of Continental Cut Stone in Florence, Texas, to pick up a specifically cut piece of Cordova Crème limestone for my latest commission. It was unusually cold and windy. I guess the Fall Equinox did not wish to arrive unnoticed. And it was raining most of the morning, which is wonderful. Since sculpting was not likely to happen, it was a good day for me to run this errand and hope for a less-wet tomorrow.

The stone quarry is actually several hours away from Florence. The Boneyard is where the stone is cut for use by sculptors, but mostly contractors and builders. It is not unusual for natural stone to either not meet the specs of certain construction projects (holes/embedded shells/distracting grain lines) or get broken or cut wrong. In these cases, the less-than-perfect stone is set out in the Boneyard for people like me. I love searching there for unusual shapes and architectural treasures that I can use as a starting point for a stone carving.

I wanted to share a few images I snapped off today as I walked around the Boneyard. The last time I was here was when I met my friend Vasily Fedorouk on the access road of the IH-35 turnoff to Florence. He had just driven down from Chicago to teach a workshop at my place. We went “shopping” together to pick out the limestone we would supply our students. It was a fun day.

The purple thistle that you see here is an unusual variety (to me anyway). I found the purple and grey combination to be a bit irresistible today.


And to my delight, I saw this large yellow moth on a pile of cut stone tiles. Their bodies are bigger than locusts! Because I tend to leave open all the doors and windows of my home and studio for as long as I can every day, I often see a brown moth enter my kitchen and studio this time of year. But I had yet to see an obviously yellow one. I included my hand in the image so that you can clearly make out his size. Cool huh?



I also saw some pink limestone. It reminded me of someone’s strawberry poundcake. I was tempted to bite into it, but I generally do not prefer the taste of limestone. Too bad all I saw were these tiles and blocks too large for me to carry home on this day. But, hmmmm, it was a curious and yummy sight!