FREE ADMISSSION

• Live demonstrations: including stone carving with hands-on activities.
• Featuring special guests from the International Stone Workers Symposium. Come use the bocce court built at the 2008 Symposium!
• Celebrating our cultural heritage with musical entertainment by “Atlantic Crossings: New England Roots Music”
• Lectures:
• Art Exhibit: Natural Stone Photography by Leslie Bartlett featuring quarry walls and hands of the sculptors
• Chicken BBQ lunch, 11-1pm offered as benefit to the Museum by Barre Rotary. Adults $10, 12 and Under $5
• Lithic Olympics: come play some stone related games with us or make up your own challenge!
• Silent Auction: featuring granite items and tools
• Ice cream by Ben and Jerry’s.
• Tours of Hope Cemetery

At the Vermont Granite Museum and Stone Arts School
The Stone Foundation will be holding its stonework symposium with skill training and workshops for stone masons, carvers, sculptors and building professionals. Registration for the 4 day symposium is $385. To register see www.stonefoundation.org member discounts available and additional workshops available before the symposium.

The IPTW 2008 was held at the Museum/School this past July. It was a great pleasure to have these folks hold their event with us. The Preservation Education Institute celebrated their 25th year at the event and we honored Judy Hayward, its Ex. Dir., for her 25 years of service to Preservation. The Colorado Mountain College, along with several members of the New England Blacksmiths, helped get our blacksmith shop installation started. CMC assisted with installing the line shaft. PTN members built us 32 x 16 foot stage! Thanks to all for a wonderful event.

8:30am-4pm

At the Vermont Granite Museum and Stone Arts School
A course for beginners interested in learning the art of building a traditional field stone wall.  No mortar will be used.  Course will be taught by Neil Rippingale in conjunction with the Dry Stone Conservancy of Lexington Kentucky. $250 workshop fee, tools and safety equipment provided.  See www.drystone.org for registration information.

• LIFE DRAWING - The discipline of life drawing is at the core of good figurative sculpture. Ongoing weekly two (2) hour sessions. Sessions are going to be crowded and we will accommodate demand by additional sessions when necessary. (Weekly)
• CLAY MODELING 101 - This workshop will cover armature building, types of clay, layout for relief sculpture,proportion, building the form, using the anatomical model, and the use of various modeling tools. (5 day course)
• CLAY MODELING IN RELIEF - A great preliminary to Relief Carving . Many of the difficulties of Relief Carving can be worked through in the clay stage before committing your sculpture to stone. The workshop will cover both high and low relief. (5 day course)
• CLAY MODELING FROM LIFE - It is highly recommended that the beginner starts with Clay Modeling 101 before entering this challenging workshop. Students will be modeling the figure from a live model on prepared armatures. Sessions can run more than five (5) days, depending on enrollment, for discounted rates. Plaster Casting is the recommended follow-up to this workshop. (5 day course)
• THE HEAD IN CLAY - Focus on the human head, proportion, and feature development, expression in male and female heads. Explore basic planes, masses, anatomy, and portraiture. (5 day course)
• PLASTER CASTING - Plaster as a Sculptural Medium: Experience the immediacy of plaster whether you are casting your clay sculpture in plaster for a reference model or direct building as a final medium, plaster is one of our most versatile and fairly inexpensive natural materials. (3 day course)
• MOLD MAKING - Explore the use of rubber and silicone in various mold making techniques. Also covered are: casting media (plaster, hydro-cal, dental plaster, For-ton), traditional piece molds, and waste molds, and slip casting. An excellent follow-up on Plaster as Sculptural Medium . (5 day course)
• ALL ABOUT THE CHISEL - The key to success in Granite Carving is fluency in handling the chisel. Although it takes years to master this simple but essential tool, this workshop will take you through the W’s: when, where, why and more importantly how. Also covered will be choosing the right chisel, sharpening and shaping. (3 day course)
• ALL ABOUT DIAMONDS - Diamonds are a carver’s best friend. This workshop covers the safe and efficient use of diamond products in the production of stone sculpture. You will use: rotary burrs, large and small hand held saws, and polishing pads. Some work will be wet, some dry. Find out what diamonds can do! (3 day course)
• THE DRILL - Explore the use of pneumatic and electric hammer drills. The drill is for more than making holes, and is an essential tool in larger scale work. Learn to channel, point, and even shape with the drill. Also covered are intended uses, i.e. : contouring deep relief and splitting blocks with wedges and shims. (3 day course)
• CARVING FROM MAQUETTE - Whether they are scale models for enlargement or for exact duplication, maquettes are the essential three dimensional road maps to guide you on your way. We will explore the use of plaster models as reference to executing your work in stone in a variety of methods. (5 day course)
• THE HEAD IN RELIEF (CLAY) - Model the head in relief (clay) and discover the challenges of low and high relief as we cover the profile, ¾ view and tipped head. Employ overlapping planes and perspective. (3-5 day course)
• DIRECT CARVING - Want to “go with the flow?” Just jump in and start carving. A sketch might be handy, but let’s just see what comes out. We can’t guarantee success, but this “process-lite� approach has produced some dramatic results. Some carving experience necessary. (5 day course)
• RELIEF CARVING - Introduction to the bread and butter of the monument carvers’ trade. Relief carving is a unique combination of drawing and sculpture, and difficult to master. We will cover high and low relief, projecting a “three-dimensional� image from the picture plane, overlapping planes, and distortion/proportion. It is advised to take the clay modeling workshop concurrently with this course, and mold-making after. (5 day course)
• THE HEAD IN STONE - Working from your clay or plaster model, we will translate to granite on a 1:1 scale (no enlargements). Utilizing the following tools: pointing machines, calipers and air hammers. End game for Head in Clay and Mold making. (5 day course)
• GRANITE SCULPTURE I - Workshop will cover how to begin with granite. Stone selection, rough stock removal, drilling and splitting, large hand tools (sledge, bull-set, axe, tracer, hand set and point), and diamond saws. (3-5 day course)
• GRANITE SCULPTURE II - Techniques covered will be surface finishes with pneumatic hammers. Tools covered: 4 point and 9 point, hard chisels, diamond points, bush chisels, rippers, to produce a combination of finishes. (3-5 day course)
• POINTING MACHINE - The name implies that the machine does all the work (wouldn’t that be fantastic?). Unlock the secrets of this centuries old marvel for duplicating your work in stone. Not for beginners. (5 day course)
• ASSEMBLY AND HANDLING - Learn how to assemble multiple piece sculpture using the crane safely, and rigging and handling larger scale sculpture. Proper use of ropes, slings and chains will also be covered. (3 day course)
• RESTORATION AND REPAIR - Stone restoration is a field unto itself. We will cover various techniques to return damaged sculpture back to its old glory, with the appropriate approach to different kinds of damage, castings, cleaning, pins and dowels, etc. (3 day course)
• BLACKSMITHING I & II - An entirely different yet related field, an introduction to blacksmithing will include tool making, custom shaping for use in stone and steel sculpture, and ornamental iron. Forge use and safety will be covered in Blacksmithing I. (5 day course)
• STONE AND STEEL - This workshop involves fabricating with steel and stone combinations, joining and systems of permanent attachment, composition, balance, and lots of experimentation will be presented. Sessions may involve some blacksmithing. Welding experience a must. (3-5 day course.)
• BRONZE - Coming soon!
• GRANITE AND THE LANDSCAPE - This workshop explores the use of granite as feature elements in landscape design. Outdoor garden furniture, benches, tables, functional sculpture, water features, and walkways will be used in a garden setting. The possibilities are limited only to your imagination. (5 day course)
• GRANITE AND INTERIORS - A mixed media workshop using granite as interior elements incorporated into furniture and architecture. Granite is more than countertops. We will be working with slabs and thin stock. Drafting your ideas is highly recommended. (5 day course)
• FLORAL CARVING - Composing and carving floral motifs in low and high relief was common practice in old architecture and statuary. These workshops aim to re-incorporate decorative floral carving into new architectural applications both interior and exterior. (5 day course)
• CARVING WITH ABRASIVE I - Introduction to carving with sandblast, using sandblast techniques in combination with hand-carving and safe procedure will be emphasized. (3 day course)
• CARVING WITH ABRASIVE II - More advanced work with abrasives under pressure. Learn how to enhance your hand carved work. Abrasive can deepen areas that a chisel can’t get to. For precise work, abrasive offers no vibration when it cuts into stone, allowing deeper penetration without cracking or breaking delicate areas around deep recesses. Very useful in floral applications and sculpture with deep under-cuts. Will be used in combination with chisels and diamonds. (3 day course)
• WALL BUILDING WITH NATURAL STONE - Dry-fit or mortared, a stone wall will enhance any garden or walkway and, if it’s well constructed, its permanent. Also covered: fireplace surrounds and mantels, incorporating sculpture as integral elements. (5 day course)
• THE HEAD IN RELIEF (STONE) - Time to use what you learned in clay to produce the relief head in stone. This session includes: using prescribed depth of relief, raised relief, incised relief and niches. (5 day course)
• PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR WORK - Slide registries will go digital. Lean how to present your work to public art competitions and public arts slide registries in digital format. We will use digital cameras, photo shop, and CD burners. Create a winning portfolio by photographing your sculpture in the right light. (3 day course over a weekend)
• INTRODUCTION TO WELDING - a pre-requisite for Steel and Stone workshops. Basic oxy-acetylene, wire fed welding and cutting in a small-scale format. (3 day course)
• SOFT STONE CARVING -While granite reigns supreme as one of the hardest stones we use for sculpture, the wide range of softer stones, such as slate, alabaster, soapstone, and Vermont marble, offer a myriad of colors and textures for smaller scale work. This workshop examines the techniques of carving the softer varieties, with less emphasis on power tools and more handwork. (5 day course)
• CARVING WITH FIRE - Jet-torch technology is not new to the granite industry and the quarries have been using it for decades. Carvers have developed “the jet stick”, a smaller, safer, and more versatile version for shaping granite. The torch is a specialty tool, and is not for detailed work. It will be used in conjunction with traditional tools. (3 day course over a weekend)
• ENGRAVING - This process involves creating a 2-dimensional image on a polished black granite surface. We will cover: transfer layout, reverse drawing (white on black) using the diamond stylus and composition. (5 day course)

Our classes are currently being custom arranged, depending on request of student and availability of teachers.  We have no scheduled offerings at this time.

You can inquire about our classes by calling 802.476.4605

A dry stone wall building class will be offered Sept 4-10.  Please register for the class at www.stonefoundation.org