Dear sculptor family,
this will be my final issue as Editor of our Sculpture NorthWest Journal. I am taking a break to help catch up on life after the impacts of the pandemic, and to take advantage of new career opportunities. I am so grateful to have had this chance to contribute to this organization. If you have been thinking about lending your skills and energy to support NWSSA as a volunteer, I highly recommend it! I have learned so much, and it has been a wonderful excuse to spend more time working with colleagues that I respect.
Maya will continue on as our stellar Copy Editor, and starting in 2022 your new journal team will also include Arliss Newcomb and Barbara Neswald!
This issue shines the Artist Spotlight on sculptor Jeremy Kester. Having seen many of these works in person, it is notable how they occupy space, with a presence and self-gravity that demands attention and contemplation. The backcover image of Jeremy carving is from the summer of 2021at NWSSA’s International Sculpture Symposium in Washington, where we also found member Larry Lawlor working on his sculpture We The People. Newer to stone carving than some of us, Larry continues to astound with his exquisite relief carvings in limestone. At the opposite end of the Mohs scale, Ken Barnes shares his project the Red Granite Spiral. If you have never carved red granite, I don’t blame you! It is a material that is especially hard on both tools and sculptors, but Ken persevered and the Red Granite Spiral currently graces the grounds of the Everett Arboretum.
Thank you so much to our contributors, and to our board of directors and event volunteers, and may we all be blessed with good health and many uninterrupted hours of sculpting stone.
Benjamin Mefford
