Northwest Stone Sculptors Association

The following is a list of some of the past workshops the NWSSA has offered in the Pacific Northwest region. We hope to offer many of these workshops on an annual basis. Please contact us or check back on our calendar to see when these workshops are scheduled.

• Building Pedestals  In this work shop we will build cedar pedestals like the ones used for the Camp Brotherhood Sculpture Walk. These pedestals break down so you can transport and store them flat. Pat Barton will instruct this work shop.  Materials, instruction, handouts, and most tools will be provided for attendees to build their own pedestals. The goal is for each attendee go home with one or more pedestals. Registration fee includes materials for one pedestal, or up to additional 3 pedestals with a per pedestal materials charge.
• Tool Sharpening Al Mangold will go over what is needed to sharpen your tools and how it's done to get a good result. We have limited the size of the group, will provide bench grinders, and set aside plenty of time for you sharpen your tools with Al's guidance.  Bring a few of your tools that need sharpening, safety glasses, and ear protection.
• Learning to Photograph Your Sculpture You should always have a visual record of your Art. Whether as a hobbyist, for gallery presentations, or entering competitions. Demonstrating various backgrounds to bring out the best with your Sculptures, Various lighting formats, What to enhance on your sculptures to highlight a special part, various angles, and more. This workshop is aimed at teaching you what to look for when photographing your sculpture. Photographer Gregg Krogstad will present the professional perspective. His recent work includes photographing Tony Angel's work for the Foster White Gallery. Ann Lancaster & Dan Colvil along with photographer Jack Stephens, will use the sculpture at Marenakos (or a small piece you bring to the workshop) to walk you through photographing 3D work.
• Working with Marenakos as a Sculptor Come take the tour specifically calibrated to sculptors. As a warm-up, just to get a feel for what a stone carver can pick up by dropping by Marenakos, Kentaro Kojima will lead NWSSA members through Marenakos "treasure pile", the end-cut pile, the Columbia column, and the igneous boulders pile. He will also talk about their selection of igneous stone and limestone, and their fabrication capabilities and how to work with Marenakos in your sculpting process. He will cover their 9ft diameter saw, which can cut a 4ft of depth, as well as their 40inch (Jaguar) saw, wire saw, core drill capabilities, rock splitters, sand blasting, and much more.
• Professional Photography of Your Work For those just starting out, or maybe you just haven't had time to get some of your newest work photographed, NWSSA & the Community Artists Program have teamed up and arranged a time and space for you to get your work professionally photographed by Gregg Krostad of Krostad Photography. What we learned from our previous workshops is that this kind of an arrangement works well for your needs. Within two weeks you will have both hi-res and low-res images on disk for your professional portfolio (and for your "Members Gallery" place on the NWSSA web site, if you aren't up there yet or need an update).
• Neolithic Stone Warehouse Tour Randy Zieber will walk you through his warehouse of stone in Vancouver BC. He will tell you a little bit about some of the stone he has there, where it comes from, and any experience he has had carving it, including which tools he has found works best for the stone. Just as a reminder he has: Soapstone, Alabaster, Chlorite, Wonderstone (Pyrophyllite), Anhydrite, Limestone, Marble, Granite and more (like his 3-5 foot calcite spheres). He has limited the number of attendees to 15 so that there is time available to talk with everyone and allow people to safely browse through the warehouse.
• Working Your Strengths to Find Your Way Tim Reisenhaur a psychologist who, for over ten years, has helped people find and use their strengths to meet their goals will lead this 4 hour workshop. It will provide you with the tools and vocabulary to identify your positive strengths and first steps for applying them in your day to day work. The focus will be on using your top strengths to help you in producing your art (or just about anything in your life, but that's outside the scope of this workshop). 
• Carving the Face & Human Head - Sabah Al-Dhaher  For sculptors who have been hesitant to try figurative carving, this workshop format allows them to gain a quick familiarity with carving the face and head. For those with figurative carving experience this workshop provides an opportunity to sharpen those skills. The workshop will provide all hand tools and limestone (see materials fee at check out) for up to 8 people. Sabah will demonstrate the process of carving the human head with hand tools on limestone. The workshop will be one-on-one instruction and open to all levels.  Participants will learn about basics of the human head, its form, line, volume, and proportion.  You will be encouraged to bring you own feeling into the form.  Sabah's technique stresses working quickly and decisively and  trusting in one’s innate ability to overcome hesitation.
• Carving the Human Figure - Sabah Al-Dhaher For sculptors who have been hesitant to try figurative carving, this workshop format allows them to gain a quick familiarity with carving the figure. For those with figurative carving experience this workshop provides an opportunity to sharpen those skills. The workshop will provide all hand tools and limestone (see materials fee at check out) for up to 8 people. Sabah will demonstrate the process of carving the human figure with hand tools on limestone. The workshop will be one-on-one instruction and open to all levels. Participants will learn about basics of the human figure, its form, line, volume, and proportion. You will be encouraged to bring you own feeling into the form. Sabah's technique stresses working quickly and decisively and trusting in one's innate ability to overcome hesitation.
• Creating Your Artist Statement Do you know the difference between what goes into an Artist Statement, Bio, and a Resume? Would you like to learn how to write a professional artist statement or update your exisitng Artist's Statement? Anne Lancaster, founder of the Community Artists Program, will do a one hour presentation on professional requirements for all artists – Artist Statement, Bio, Resume, with a primary focus on creating an Artist Statement. She will work with participants to co-create their artist statement and their presentation to the group. At the end of the workshop each artist will have completed and presented their new artist statement.