Thoughts & Opinions

Book Review: Stone Mad - May/Juner 2008

Details: Created: Friday, 02 May 2008 06:20

Written in 1950, Stone Mad was first published in hardback in 1966 and in paperback in 1977 and 1982 by Routledge and Kegan Paul Limited. My copy is a 1997 paperback issue from Blackstaff Press Limited and is a photolithographic facsimile of the first edition. Illustrations are by William Harrington.

Seamus Murphy lived from 1907 to 1975. His personal story is not quite like the men you will read about in his book. While most of them remained tied to their bankers in production shops, typical of carvers at the time, Seamus Murphy managed to escape to something different. His studies of clay sculpting classes while working as an apprentice and his natural abilities resulted in him opening his own shop. His unique style, a departure from the standard Celtic motif, and his fine, artistic touch was much sought after, providing him a comfortable living.

Stone Mad by Seamus Murphy is a dandy read. The novel’s 226 pages are brimming with Seamus’ stories based on his early apprenticeship and subsequent career in the stone carving trade of County Cork, Ireland. The memorable and loquacious characters he brings to life, speak to us with a rolling good humor and a fetching Irish lilt. From their sweat shop bankers in the rustic carving sheds of the early 20th century, these men regale us with charming tales, heated arguments and shameless lies about their work on construction jobs for everything from cathedrals to tombstones.

The book came to NWSSA through Keith Philips when a friend of his from Ireland gave him a copy. Keith can usually be found carving in his shed at Marenakos’ Tenino sandstone quarry using many of the old methods and tools described in the book. He tells the story of coming across a penny-faced Hammer in a used tool store. He had read about the penny-face in Stone Mad, with each of its two faces the exact size of an English penny. Some of Seamus’ characters revered the penny-face for its supposed mystical qualities, and one can easily believe that Keith subscribes to the same reverence. Creating characters with nick-names like Blueskull, Stun, Blackjack and the Gargoyle, Seamus paints a clear and inevitable picture of how the carving sheds began to thin out with the advent of concrete.

After several of the older men get their pink slips so the new boss can hire fewer, younger, cheaper carvers the old hands are talking about how the trade is nearly finished, when the clean up boy adds his two cents worth: ‘I told you that years ago,’ said Danny.’ ‘And you wouldn’t believe me. The pre-cast concrete is going to wipe it out – door-blocks, sills, window – heads, jambs – they can turn anything out of it, an’ it does the job as well. People don’t know the difference and, anyway, they haven’t time to be thinking of that sort of thing. It’s just slap it up and get it finished.’

The character of Danny Melt was used by Seamus to give voice to many of the arguments at the bankers in the carving shed. Here’s Danny berating the men for what he thought of as a too keen interest in their work. ‘I’ll tell you what’s wrong,’ said Danny. ‘I’m fed up with all this talk about the craft. Wan would think there was nothing else in the world. Mornin’, noon an’ night, ye’re at it. No wonder people say ye’re stone mad. Sunday or Monday, ‘tis all the same to ye. D’ye get a wink of sleep at all for thinking of it?’

I’ll wager some of us have heard the same sort of thing from people who think we go on a little too much about the wonders of our own stone carving.

Stone Mad is a good read for carvers because it talks so much about the elements of the trade, but it is also a great find for those looking for a well written book about another time and another place.

Many on-line book sellers and stores such as Borders carry Stone Mad. Find yourself a copy and have a wonderful read.

What is a Sculptor's Most Important Tool - May/June 2008

Details: Created: Friday, 02 May 2008 06:15

Would that be the seven-inch angle grinder with diamond tipped blade? Or that finely honed chisel, or the hammer that balances in your hand just so? Some might name the human body as a sculptor’s most important tool.

I think it is the mind. Our minds are responsible for creating and designing the best sculpture. Often we take it for granted. Do we ever think to clean, maintain and exercise our minds like we do our tools? This article is meant to introduce the concepts necessary to use and maintain that tool – the mind. And by so doing we can expand our creativity and discover new shapes to convey new meanings.

Creativity is a bit like riding a bike: we can all do it (to some degree), but it’s hard to explain exactly how we do it. Perhaps this is because creativity is more “inspiration” than logic. This difference comes to us from our first bipedal ancestors millions of years ago. As we became upright, the hands became free to specialize for different needs. Most humans used their right hands to sequentially throw rocks and spears. Sequential logic began to slowly expand in the left hemisphere of the brain, the half that controls the right half of the body. Later, the development of language and ultimately writing caused a further increase in left hemisphere use as people began to communicate their thoughts in logical, linear or “train” of thought that mirrors the sequential movement of throwing things. Over the last fifty thousand years, the left hemisphere has become the dominant sphere. Most of our lives today are consumed with following rules, categorizing things, keeping track of time, communicating with other people and maintaining daily routines.

Not that left-brain dominance is bad in and of itself. In fact it is dominant because it creates more value in society and has been rewarded with greater wealth and reproduction rights over the millennia. However, what we have lost is the connection with our intuition and our ability to spontaneously cross-associate ideas together with our senses; a process we call creativity. The left hemisphere manages order, while the right hemisphere manages chaos. Deep within our thinking selves is the ability to deal both with order in a structured, stable environment and, also with disorder in a rapidly changing environment. Perhaps this is the clue needed for unlocking the right side of the brain and helping you become a better artist.

Some of us get a jump-start by being right hemisphere dominant or left-handed. Left-handed people have been shown to be more creative presumably because they are not as entrenched in their left hemispheric logic. For the rest of us, there are a series of books and articles teaching us how to think with the right hemisphere. One of the best is titled “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.” This book attempts to teach you to draw not by thinking and categorizing with the left hemisphere, but by really studying shapes as if you had never seen them before. Sometimes simply drawing a common object upside down can force you to really study it – because it no longer fits into any of the preordained categories that the left hemisphere uses to simplify life. Shapes no longer conveniently fit into the memory banks of the left hemisphere thereby forcing the right hemisphere to take over. Objects drawn using this technique benefit from no longer appearing to resemble bad cartoons and apples are no longer all plain red delicious with a certain shape. Disturbing the “status quo” of the mind shifts the dominance from one hemisphere to the other.

Another technique that has been used to shut down the left hemisphere from railroading involves challenging your mind to solve new problems that have no logical answer. What is the texture of each color? What shapes best represent each of the Seasons? What color is each of the emotions? Suddenly bereft of the security of prior knowledge to draw on, the right hemisphere is forced to take the unsteady helm and steer you into the unknown. Cross-linking your senses is not as difficult as it might seem.

Some lucky people have a condition called Synesthesia. This ability directly links different senses together. For instance, some people actually smell a different smell when they see different colors or “see” different shapes that represent various sounds like music. This type of crossover may be a mixed blessing to those who have the condition, but for others of us, consciously crossing over may give us a chance to explore the unlimited capacity of the right hemisphere to free-associate.

But, is it enough to just take existing objects and copy them better or even create new associations with different senses? The ability to capture grand concepts or perhaps even create new concepts to convey through symbolism is the highest aspiration of an artist. For example Michelangelo’s David would never have reached the pinnacle of artistic expression if Michelangelo had not been able to reduce the new self-confidence man felt at the beginning of the renaissance into a single gaze of a young man. Clearly conveying such a complex concept as the shifting percepts of an entire civilization with the simple gaze of a statue deserves the recognition it has received over the years. How do we common folk gain insight, capture a new feeling or stretch the imagination?

One answer might be: violate the rules. Create new disorder in your life; step out of the bubble cocoon that is your daily life. Stimulate all your senses and feelings. Simply by taking a new route to work can force you to awaken from the slumber of your left-hemisphere. Exercise your mind by learning as much as you can about as many different subjects as possible. Learn a new language, take tai chi, learn scuba, study diatoms, go to a fabric store and really look at the pattern of the fabrics, study Etruscan art or Roman fibulae, go to the library and randomly select books to read.

In other words, what is needed is a new awareness to see not only with our eyes, but also with our minds. We need to first expand our toolkit of shapes, colors, patterns and textures and then expand our experiences to have something to communicate to others. After this mental tune-up, it’s up to your right hemisphere to come up with a unique method of expression. Knowing yourself without really understanding how you know is just a fact we live with, but it doesn’t stop us from riding a bike and it shouldn’t block us from expressing ourselves non-verbally through art.å

Window to the Bay - March/Apr 2008

Details: Created: Sunday, 02 March 2008 05:44

In mid February, a few Whidbey Island NWSSA members helped Lloyd Whannell install his 2300 pound sculpture at the home of Ellen and Bernie Camin. Thesculpture overlooks Useless Bay and is of special significance for its new owners. Bernie tells us that from the time he first saw it in Lloyd's studio yard, the stone's configuration suggested to him a meditative state invoking the innate balance of the male and female principle. Appearing to float in the Camin's perfectly placed yard, the stone's strength, yet fragile shape seem to make a perfect portal through which to view the world.