Board of Directors

In August of 1987 I attended the 1st NW Stone Sculptors Association Symposium and have been an active member ever since. As a member of the Board of Directors from 1994 to 1997, I helped procure 501(c)3 status for NWSSA. Currently, in the capacity of President, I am working toward building an infrastructure that will encourage member participation and a desire to see NWSSA continue stronger and better than ever.

I have been attending and participating in some fashion since 1989. I previously served as secretary in the late 1990’s. In anticipation of serving on NWSSA’s BOD, I recently completed the ArtsFund board leadership training class in May 2025. I believe my organizational skills will continue to help NWSSA support opportunities and vision that explore all aspects of stone carving for all creative and passionate people, and as a safe place to create, share and explore. I will help find common and shared goals where our legacy and knowledge can be accessed by new and old members.

Ken took a break from rock climbing, and thought that rock bashing would be a good idea. He bashed unsuccessfully on cobbles from the backyard, until he saw a Uchida sculpture and got hooked. It seems a miracle that he discovered the NWSSA nearly 30 years ago. At this point in his aging metamorphosis is setting in. He’d prefer to agatize over fossilization, but isn’t sure how to take action on that preference. He has been on the board for a cumulative 14 years, with some portion of that as president or treasurer. He’d really rather work on agatizing, but duty calls.

I became a member of NWSSA after completing my first stone carving workshop guided by Kentaro Kojima in 2019. I had always created within the fiber arts medium but once introduced to stone carving I was instantly obsessed. Since then I have made lots of dust and attended many of the NWSSA symposiums, including those at Pilgrim Firs, the California Sculptors Symposium, and the Women’s Hand Carving Retreats. Like many of our members, I love the NWSSA community. Almost everything I’ve learned about stone carving has come from the amazing NWSSA members that have shared their knowledge and expertise in workshops, online and at stone camp. I enthusiastically support the mission of NWSSA and it has been great to see the ongoing improvements the governing team has implemented in the time that I’ve been a member. After retiring from my 35 year nursing career, I am now focusing on the good times ahead, carving stone in my studio and becoming more actively involved in NWSSA. I have a strong work ethic, and a respect for deadlines and getting the job done. I am hoping that my common sense approach to problem solving, good communication skills and willingness to help out will make me a valuable member of the NWSSA governing team.

Aerin has been a member for the last 4 yrs. She has volunteered to help the Events committee and led the Flower & Garden Show exhibit in 2023. She's also been a work study at the WA Symposium for 3 yrs. Aerin has been an office manager and has been in administration roles for about 20 years. She feels her event planning skills would be helpful to NWSSA. In her words: "I’m super detail oriented and tend see processes and solutions. Things don’t need to be broken to be made significantly better. I love this group so much I just like the idea of being able to help on the board maybe running help Events/Gallery shows. I feel we could be getting involved so much more especially for those who want more exposure."

Oliver Harwood has been involved in stone sculpture for 3 decades, with a passion for building community and art education. Part rebel, part philosopher, first studying History, then Fine Arts, he took his student loan money and headed to Italy where he got into countless adventures, mostly to do with stone. Returning to Canada he finished his BFA and started a life-long mission to share the experience of sculpting stone. Involved in exhibiting, art tours, symposiums and public art, Oliver continues to challenge himself to develop as an Artist. To Introduce stone carving to the public, especially youth, he established an in-school art program and a product line for carving stone. Oliver has participated in 6+ Washington Symposia and believes in the power of the artist community!

Since retiring from a career as a child and family therapist and raising a family, I am now able to direct most of my creative energy into stone sculpting. I’ve been a member of NWSSA for the past 20+ years, and have participated in most of the symposia at Camp Brotherhood and Pilgrim Firs. I experience the members of NWSSA as being the most generous, fun and creative group of artists that I have ever encountered. I am so appreciative of the many NWSSA mentors. Recently, with the plan to give back to this amazing community of artists/stoners, I joined the NWSSA board. I am participating on the event planning and nominations committees. Valuing participation in groups, I also joined the Studio Stone Collective in the Georgetown neighborhood in SW Seattle. I bring strong communication and organizational skills and previous experience on two other boards where I played leadership roles. I plan to utilize my skills and hope to continue to contribute my energy and efforts to help grow and stabilize NWSSA. I want to continue to focus on building representation from all our geographical areas both on the board and in general and to help in coordinating and developing stone sculpture exhibits/shows such as the one I have created to take place at Kubota Garden this September.

I am a man of my time… Deep Time, that is. I study and experience this Deep Time through the stone of our planet’s 4.5 billion year history. Time and stone have been keen interest of mine since my college days at Stanford. There I obtained degrees in Geology and Geophysics and became aware that my interest in these subjects was more than merely scientific. Although my early career focused on the Earth Sciences, by the 1990s, I began to appreciate the beautiful aesthetics of sculpted stone at various galleries and museums located throughout the footprint of my global energy career. I started sculpting stone in 2005 after I moved to Orcas Island, gradually developing an understanding of how the science and art of stone can be combined to produce sensual three dimensional objects of intrigue. Most of my sculpted stone is millions of years old and have fascinating geologic creation stories. These stories are reflected in my finished sculptures appearance, whether it is in multicolored igneous mineral refractions or in the traces of ancient life in fossiliferous sedimentary rock I enjoy sculpting stone dynamically, directly carving into my chosen blocks from a design in my imagination. The stone’s geologic characteristics will often determine how my imagined design will come into being. I adapt my imagined design as I come to understand what this particular stone can offer. Geometric abstract forms combined with geologically remarkable stone produce my most compelling sculptures.