2022 Suttle Lake Stone Carving Symposium at Sisters, OR

Workshops and Instruction: Our inclusive community will set up a circle of tents to carve, share, learn and be invigorated. From the beginner’s tent to the professional’s tool chest, there are ample ways to advance one’s ideas, talents and learning.
Extensive carving sessions are interspersed with informative classes and stimulating sculpting lessons. Field mentors and instructors are available to help guide you through your challenges. Bring your gear (if you are a beginner, we have tools you can use), connect to our power, water and air sources and peruse the tools and variety of stones being carved and available for purchase from our on-site vendors.

Tool & Safety Talks - Jeremy Kester of Portland, OR Dan Michael of Olympia, WA will display an array of electric and pneumatic power carving tools and methods while explaining safe operation, potential hazards and proper safety protection.

Beginning Stone Carving: Throughout the week everyone will have access to many carving tools and tables, plus pneumatic and electrical tools like air hammers and grinders. This year Matt Auvinen will instruct the beginning and intermediate students and guide you through the techniques and process of safely creating a project in stone. Matt will introduce you to direct carving and techniques of pantography and enlargement.

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Guest Artists and Field Mentors:
Throughout the week everyone will have access to many carving tools and tables, plus pneumatic and electrical tools like air hammers and grinders. This year Matt Auvinen will instruct the beginning and intermediate students and guide you through the techniques and process of safely creating a project in stone. Matt will introduce you to direct carving and techniques of pantography and enlargement.

Sabah Al-Dhaher – Sabah was born in Nasriyah, Iraq. At the age of 15 he was accepted to The Fine Arts Institute-Basra in Iraq, where he lived and received his training in classical art. Sabah fled Iraq in 1991, spent two and a half years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia and in 1993 he came to the US as a political refugee. Sabah has been creating and exhibiting his work throughout the Northwest since 1995. Sabah's story has been chronicled in various media including "My Saraab", a documentary by Sarna Lapine. www.sabahfineart.com

Matt Auvinen – Matt worked as an artisan in Pietrasanta, Italy and taught drawing and sculpture in Florence and Rome. Most recently he has made annual trips to Athens to study the tool marks on ancient Greek sculptures and served as a consultant and research assistant through the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. In 2001, Matt translated Francesco Carradori’s Elementary Instructions for Students of Sculpture (1802), the first textbook for sculpture students, and consulted for Stanford University’s Digital Michelangelo Project, where he was able to examine, first hand, many of the sculptures of this master.  www.mattauvinen.com

Mark Herrington– Mark was born and raised in Maine, starting his career as a woodworker. He purchased an old granite quarry to build a workshop on. By the time his shop was done he was drawn in by the mystery of the stone. Woodworking is now a hobby.
Marks’ stone work has centered around working glacial erratics using the found form of the stone as his entry into abstraction. He strives for minimalism to allow the stone to have an equal voice in the finished product.
www.markherrington.com

Lawrence Stoller - is an internationally recognized, award-winning artist, sculptor, author and teacher. He has pioneered the enduring art of sculpting monumental transparent crystals combined with bronze, known as Megagems; including several of the most prodigious gemstone sculptures in existence. Stoller was commissioned by American Express, to create the centerpiece of the (9/11) Eleven Tears Memorial, located across the street from Ground Zero. His collaborative hanging sculpture “Bahia” is the cornerstone of the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, California. www.crystalworks.com



Click here to download a printable Registration Form

Stone and Tool Vendors:
If you have a special order, please contact the Vendor(s) prior to Camp
Tom Urban - A selection of stone and tools from Neolithic Stone & Tom’s inventory. Alabaster, chlorite, limestone, Kansas fence posts and marbles. Tools include diamond blades, cups, burrs and files. Call for requests and info, 541-912-2197 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Special Thanks to the directors and staff of Suttle Lake Camp for their hospitality, Rich Hestekind for his mentorship.