Workshops and Instructors

Stone Carving - Rough Out to Finish with JoAnne Duby
4 sessions

In a series of 45-minute presentations, Joanne will start a sculpture, explaining how she begins, what tools she'll need for her rough out and design approaches and how to quickly get where you want, all the way to finish, signed and sealed.  She'll be carving all day, so everyone will have access to the process of her carve.

Joanne has been a working sculptor for 33 years.  She has worked in most sculpting mediums, but stone is her passion.  She works out of Art City Studios, in Ventura, California, and has been a teacher in North West Carver's Camp brotherhood symposium for 14 years.  She helped found the California Sculptors Symposium, and has taught in all five.   www.joanneduby.com.

Working Stone with T Barny

T Barny will take you through rapid roughing out of stone blocks using power tools with diamond blades, chainsaws and splitting techniques. He will demonstrate pneumatic power carving and grinding. He will also show how to achieve different finishes and textures and how to take a mold from stone to use for casting bronzes.

A native Californian, T Barny has spent his life in a love affair with stone.  He studied sculpture, art and design at Choate, Denison, Brown. He received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BMF at the Royce School of Design.  Abstraction is his fascination and power tools are his forte.  T Barny is known for his stone mobius “Celtic Knots” and curvilinear shapes, and also works in wood, bronze, steel, water and ice.  His exhibitions and awards span three decades and his pieces hold prestigious placement in collections internationally.

"Where Purpose and Practice Meet" with Alexandra Morosco

The right tools and how to safely use them are only a splinter of our craft; Alexandra offers four sessions during the symposium that will weave elements of her “personal tools” as well as actual ones that help to bring further meaning to her process and completed works. She will focus on elements of figurative carving but will also address that of abstract and symbolic styles.

Alexandra shares her time with us in three facets: instructor, stone carver and as an invaluable resource of tool knowledge.

Alexandra has been carving stone since 1991 where she studied Sculpture at California State University, Northridge. She furthered her knowledge of stone and carving over the next ten years while holding a studio at Art City in Ventura, Ca. Alexandra works on both large-scale public works, as well as smaller personal pieces, predominantly working with the human figure. Her works are allegorical in nature, using the human figure as a storytelling vessel. She works in both stone and bronze, but is partial to the nature and voice of natural stone.

Alex has a long-standing affiliation with tool companies, Trow and Holden Co. and A Cut Above Distributing Co. as a field representative that specializes in the needs of stone carvers and is looking forward to assisting participants in navigating through the labyrinth of tools. This year she will be in our field through the whole event and will be available to assist individuals one on one as well as in group discussions.

The Life Model & Clay with Evany Zirul
4 sessions

In four 45-minute sessions, Evany will assist you in modeling clay using a life model.  She will demonstrate armature building, learning the best use of oil base clay and help you at any skill level.  We have a model for 4 hours for 5 days, in addition to the teaching sessions.

EVANY ZIRUL has been drawing people since she was 14 years old when her parents gave her a rapidograph pen— that pen became a part of her hand and drawings became a part of her life.

Throughout high school and college, she constantly created elaborate doodles in the margins of her notebooks, while still taking copious notes. “I found I could focus better on the teacher's words if I could allow part of my mind to be occupied with creating images.” Even today, her need to multi-task, creating images while fully listening at lectures or concerts or meetings, allows her to better process and remember the words and ideas expressed by the presenter.

Evany was born in Brooklyn, New York and was raised in Kansas City. She began her formal training in studio art at Mills College, Oakland, California, where she received a BA in Art History.   But she was fascinated by ancient Chinese bronzes and decided to learn the craft while in college.  She also studied at the Art Institute of Kansas City, Stanford University and Humboldt State College in summer classes in studio art.  Evany then continued her education in studio art at the University of Kansas, where she received a Master of Fine Art degree in Sculpture and Design. After completing her Masters, she became an Instructor of Fine Arts at Center College in Danville, Kentucky.

Since 1968, she has shown in galleries in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, New Jersey, and California, including San Francisco’s prestigious Vorpal Gallery.

In 1975, she took her skill in interpreting the human form a step further—she went back to school and received a doctorate in medicine. She has been a practicing physician, specializing in ear, nose, throat, and facial reconstructive plastic surgery for 25 years.

Evany has continued to keep involved in creating and showing her art over the decades. She finds that, in addition to the drawing (which she continues to do nearly everyday), she loves to work with clay because she finds she is able to transcend to a place in her imagination where she does not often go in her daily life. To transform the warm, fragile clay into a firm and durable bronze gives her great pleasure, the same sort of pleasure she receives when she is able to transform a damaged human face into something more pleasing and functional. It is all about the delicate balance of life— to turn soft clay into a permanent bronze that will last forever is a very satisfying accomplishment for Evany. Each bronze is like the miracle a doctor strives to reach each working day.

Marble Carving with John Fisher
4 sessions

John will present and discuss his plans for the sculpture he will have in progress during the symposium. 

"I plan on bringing a sample of pure statuary marble and carving a composition during the symposium.  I am open to people watching and asking questions about my creative process.  Some of the techniques I teach are being lost with each subsequent generation.  Plan on coming not only with tools for cutting stone but lots of paper and pencils for drawing.  The more experience you have at drawing, the easier it is to carve.  

Creating is a profoundly philosophical and spiritual act of faith. My work is spontaneous and intuitive, but built upon years of observation and the discipline of drawing. I have lived and worked for many years in Europe, primarily in Italy, giving me a notable lean towards the classical.  However my approach is initially abstract. I begin without models or drawings, creating movements and a rich surface texture, which stimulates ideas. Once I see my vision, it is refined using a technique of carving only the profile lines of my subject, until all points of view align and the image is realized.

Some of my works are public on-site carvings, which are educational demonstrations of my creative process. By including the public, new and socially significant sculptures are born. The impact of witnessing the birthing of the sculpture extends out into the community, uniting people in a common experience." www.fisheroppenheimer.com

Burnishing and smoke firing workshop with Francine Kirsch

Francine Kirsch will explore the ancestral method of making pinch pots or small sculptures and the burnishing process with a polishing stone.  The pieces will be fired in organic material to create a black patina in a smoke firing.  Francine has been working with clay and teaching ceramics for many years.  She started carving stone in 2002 at the first symposium.  She lives and works near Santa Barbara, California.  www.francinekirsch.com

Monday or Tuesday - 1st class: 45min., after lunch
History and introduction to the basics of making pinch pots and burnishing

Tuesday or Wednesday - 2nd class: 45min. - We will finish burnishing and gather material for the smoke firing.

Thursday - 3rd class: Mid-afternoon - Smoke Firing

"I often wonder why I have such a compulsion to create and why clay and stones are the materials that excite and challenge me. What is true is the minute I touch clay or stone everything is fine. Life has some meaning and worth living.

The recurrent themes in my sculptures are inspired by the natural curves in nature and the human figure, lights and shadows, movement and balance, strength and fragility .The challenge and the mystery of creating a sculpture is always fascinating. The never-ending curve of the spiral design found in nature is a theme that I love to explore.

I was born far from the ocean in northeastern France and saw the sea for the first time as an adult. I am continually fascinated by and have great respect for the ocean and have collected Sea shells ever since. The rhythmic pounding of the sea, in tune with the beating of my heart, left an ever-lasting impression of serenity and freedom. All the shells I collect are a reminder of my walks on the beaches of the world."

“The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place”

                                                                  Barbara de Angelis

Francine Kirsch was born in France and came to Santa Barbara, CA in 1974 where she started to work with clay. As she moved to the country in Northern California with her family, she specialized in burnishing and smoke firing her sculptures. She also lived and continued her artistic endeavors in Japan for 5 years and had many exhibitions there. Her work is in private collections all over the world. The recurrent themes in her sculptures are inspired by the natural curves in nature and the human figure. She also still works in clay and has been carving stone since the 1st Sculptors Symposium in Cambria.   She now lives and has her studio in Goleta, CA.
www.francinekirsch.com

Architectural Stone Workshop
with Nathen Blackwell
2 sessions

Nathen will demonstrate his master techniques in architectural details in stone, the correct use of tools and sharpening of tools. Using a corbel, he will demonstrate decorative details in limestone. We are honored to have Nathen on our program for the 3rd consecutive year.

Daily Schedule

Our instructors will keep presentation to approximately 50 minutes, unless otherwise indicated.  Our instructors are not on duty all day.

Main Instructors
JOHN FISHER
JOANNE DUBY
T BARNY
EVANY ZIRUL
ALEX MOROSCO

Leaders for Marine Sculpture Project
Paul Lindhard
Rude Calderon
G. Ramon Brynes
Chris Provenzano

Feature Presentations:
Nathen Blackwell
Francine Kirsch
Frank Devine

ALL MEALS:  Breakfast @ 8:00, Lunch @ 12:30, Dinner @ 6:30

Sunday, April 20th
1:00 p.m.    Arrival, check in, set up
5:00 p.m.    Salute the Marine Sculpture Project:  Paul Lindhard
    New Friends Mixer
6:30 p.m.    Dinner & Welcome & Instructor Introductions

Monday, April 21st
Safety Talk during breakfast
9:00 a.m.    JOHN—Composition: Early Stone Removal/Finding an Image
10:00 a.m.    ALEX—Hand tooling
10:00 a.m.    EVANY—Introduction to the human figure: proportions and life of the figure, planning the figure, setting the story in your mind, preparatory drawing of the figure, working with armature
10:00-12:00    Model Time
1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.    Model Time
2:30 p.m.    T BARNY—Splitting the stone, sizing the block
3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.    FRANCINE—Pinch pots or small sculptures in clay.  Bring some low fire clay with no grog for best results.
4:30 p.m.    JOANNE—How to get to know your stone

Tuesday, April 22nd
9:00 a.m.    JOHN—Profile Carving: Proportions/Basic Anatomy/ Setting up
10:00-12:00    Model Time
10:00 a.m.    EVANY—Clay work and using the tools, padding the thick regions to lighten the weight
10:00 a.m.    ALEX—The invention of putting air to work
1:00–4:00 p.m.    Model Time
2:30 p.m.    T BARNY—Getting to the core, Fast removal of stone
3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.    FRANCINCE—Burnishing and decorating.  Bring polishing stone and graffito tools
4:30 p.m.    JOANNE—Coming to terms with the stone: changing soft design into hard—the beginning of the dance between sculptor and stone.

Wednesday, April 23rd
9:00 a.m.    JOHN—Modeling: Perfecting Transitions/Fine Delicate Carving
10:00 -12:00    Model Time
10:00 a.m.    EVANY—Modeling the clay to the image, working to finish the figure
10:00 a.m.    ALEX—Sculpture as Storyteller
1:00-4:00 p.m.    Model Time
2:30 p.m.    T BARNY—Power carving and grinding
3:30 p.m.    FRANK DEVINE—Architectural Wood Carving
4:30 p.m.    JOANNE—Drilling for Pin/Sleeve to start working the stone the way it will be presented

Thursday, April 24th
9:00 a.m.    JOHN—Finishing: Hand Tools/The Lever, the Scraper, and the Rasp
10:00-12:00    Model Time
10:00 a.m.    EVANY—Finishing the piece, the surface for presentation
10:00 a.m.    ALEX—Conception!  A Fertile Topic!
11:00 a.m.    NATHEN—Details in Architectural Stone
2:30 p.m.    T BARNY—Textures, finishes, sealers and molds for bronzes
4:00-5:00 p.m.    FRANCINE—Gathering organic material/loading pieces for smoke firing
4:30 p.m.    JOANNE—Making tools for sanding, finishes, textures, pre-sealing
SILENT AUCTION—2 P.M.-8:00 P.M.
6:30 p.m.    SPECIAL DINNER in the lodge by “Chef” Tim Garcia & Sculptor helpers

Friday, April 25th
10:00-12:00    Model Time
11:00 a.m.    NATHEN Architectural Stone
1:00-4:00 p.m.    Last Model Time
After lunch    Set up Sculpture Show

Saturday, April 26th
10:00-12:00    Gallery closed for judging of show
12:30 p.m.    Show Awards presentation
12:00-5:00 p.m.    SCULPTURE SHOW “Sculpture by the Sea”   
8:00 p.m.    CELEBRATION PARTY

Sunday, April 27th   
8:00 a.m.    Last meal at symposium
Take down by noon    and depart until April, 2009