I didn’t think I’d be stone carving again in Berlin, Germany. Lisa and I have been leading workshops in Europe for the last couple of years, and currently there isn’t a great interest in workshop leadership from the USA. It’s September of 2005 and our three workshops have been cancelled; we came anyway to make the best of our disappointment. I won’t bore you with all the details of how we wound up at the Stein Forum, but only share that this is the location where Lisa and I had our wedding celebration two years earlier.
If there could be a setting more perfect it would be described as a “dream” experience, like one of those pipe dreams you might have when you take off the safety gear and sit back and look at what stands in front of you. Have you had those escapism dreams where carving in Italy or some other country would be a great substitute for your daily routine? If only I could be carving in a huge hall with all the tools and stone I might desire, or relaxing in the back yard on a lake watching water fowl and fish that jump out of the water to tempt you in.
This is no dream. I am staying with Kai Draeger at his Stein Forum. Kai was a former patient of Lisa’s when she had her holistic healing practice in Berlin. And Kai invited me to carve with him as he prepares for a sculpture show this Fall. This time of the year is perfect to be here, the lake waters are cool and refreshing after a hot 80-degree day in the studio. The apples and plums are also ripe for the picking and just out the front gate is a café for your favorite beverage (beer, wine, or apple juice.) The bus line also ends here so there is ease into the city for dinner, movies, or other cultural experiences.
I did want to visit the new Holocaust Memorial recently opened in Berlin. Located near the Brandenburg Gate, it was built between 2003 and 2005 according to a design by the architect Peter Eisenman. This design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because he does not use any symbolism. I have been coming to Berlin for four years now, sculpting and facilitating reconciliation workshops with Jews and Germans. This new memorial has received international attention, and been steeped in controversy since its planning and selection process started in 1988. Changes in Germany - reunification and the relocation of parliament and government to Berlin - made the Memorial project the subject of a fundamental debate concerning German people’s historical self-awareness at the end of the 20th century. From the outset, this process of self-understanding has involved vigorous criticism and conflicting feelings, and the Memorial was correspondingly the subject of a great deal of fervent argument.
I personally found the street-level construct ineffective in memorializing the Holocaust. It symbolized to me a massive graveyard without a designated place for grief and reflection, and a waste of valuable resources. I did feel that the exhibition gave the historical facts, with photo-documentation tracing the Nazis’ extermination policy between 1933 and 1945. The exhibition was in the Information Center; a German addition to Wisenman’s winning architectural design, in the underground bunker or symbolic grave. It becomes very personal entering into rooms where stories are seen through photographs of letters, diary entries, and oral story telling. Exiting the exhibit into the center of the upper monuments, blocks of blackened concrete engage you in the question of why and what is the symbolism. The memorial was well attended and reports have been that it is a very popular destination for tourism. This is a hopeful sign that the memorial educates people and that the horrors of the Holocaust may never be repeated again.
My carving took on its own response to the memorial. I found my form in the white Grecian marble, and when I brought water to the stone for the first time I saw gray veining that represents a symbolic shield. I felt the need to protect my vulnerability here as a Jewish man, especially after my time at the memorial. I was using Kai’s tools and he was overseeing my progress. I also received his advice on the best and fastest way to take the next steps. This was somewhat foreign and often awkward to my usual approach of working alone. Receiving his instructions on how to do it the RIGHT way also kept me guarded. This was part of my carving process and after a few days of working together, the first sculpture was completed.
After a few days of resting up my hands I reentered the studio. The next stone came from the same original block of marble. We had cut the block in half, as I had to work with weight limitations. I had the plan to bring two sculptures home as luggage with a weight limit of 32 kilos each. So I designed a form to compliment the first, this one more open, flowing, and receptive. I was feeling more relaxed in my setting and I was now comfortable using Kai’s tools. The sculptural design offered a feeling of harmony and as I refined the form, I felt a great healing power working in this ancient art form.
What a great blessing it is to be able to express such sensitivity and care for the world, in a medium like stone. To be a sculptor is a great gift, to speak our voice in stone makes our stories eternal. Sculpt Proud!
Editor’s note: Brian and his wife Lisa will be leading a Compassionate Journey to Berlin in May of 2006. If interested contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more pictures and information on the memorial, go to :
