George Pratt – Artist Spotlight (2009)
NWSSA Staff
May 2, 2009
In 2002, Chris Sorensen, my mentor and friend, invited me to join his studio where I live in Fresno California. Initially, I worked with found objects and metal scrap until my friend Buck gave me a piece of limestone, handed me some tools, and my life changed. Thanks to him, the California Sculptors Symposium, and the many amazing friends I’ve met along the way I am a seasoned stone carver.
Curves and Crevices, Amy Kohl
After my first experience at CSS in Cambria in 2005 I was hooked on stone. Consequently, my twenty years of passion for welding and assembling became incorporated into stone. I yearned for dust in my hair and chips on the ground. I wanted more rocks and tools to carve with. At CSS I had the opportunity to learn from and work next to so many carvers and amazing artists. Each year reconnecting with friends and making new ones was just a small part of the week. My friends spoke the language of the stones, 3-dimension, art, and passion. I fell in love and I have not stopped going since… except for the pandemic years, which I have blocked from my memory.
In 2019, I was selected as the CSS exchange board member to attend the NWSSA symposium at Pilgrim Firs. That opportunity made me a better and more confident sculptor. Not only did I learn new techniques and try new tools, but I also found more like-minded people who have become incredible friends.
Process
I began combining both materials, stone, and metal. The combination of learning patience through stone and the immediate gratification that welding offered set me on fire. Limestone was my first stone, Kansas fencepost to be specific. In my piece, Blue Eye, I combined metal objects, part of a fence post and a blue spherical rock that I found on a beach.
I’ve always been fascinated by large stone sculptures, gravestones, statues, decorative carvings in old buildings and churches. Where the stone came from and the processes that the artists used to create was part of the story of the product. For me, stone quarries are amazing, magical places and I’ve had many adventures traveling to them. My first adventure was with a friend to the granite quarry in Academy, California. I was introduced as a metal artist and invited to dig through their boneyard and take the rusty worn-out treasures home. It was like a dream come true. Years later, I began visiting quarries to source my own stone and didn’t even ask about their discarded metal.
My first adventure was collecting verde antique marble by climbing up a hill, choosing a rock, and rolling it down the hill gracefully. Did I mention that we were collecting in the hot desert? Other trips with friends included choosing from a field that had piles of obsidian, black and white striped marble, and going to the Picasso quarry in Utah. I selected the orange calcite used in my piece Orange Sunset in Hanna, Utah from the source. On the same trip, my friends and I ventured to collect Wedgewood marble in the middle of nowhere and danced under the full moon. I’ve visited quarries, the Carving Studio, and Rock of Ages in Vermont. The abandoned onyx quarry in the Mojave Desert was interesting. It was as if they just stopped one day and walked away. Local rivers, lakes, and beaches have an abundance of rocks that find themselves joining my collection.
I feel the need to see where different rocks are from and how they are formed. I have enough stones to keep me going for years, if I carve every day for the next 50 years. I collect based on colors, textures, raw form, shapes, and size. Some stones are for carving and some just are meant to be in my life.
Now
This year I’m going to CSS and the symposium at Pilgrim Firs. After beginning my stone addiction, I haven’t stopped. When I moved my studio home in 2020, my creative world was shaken up. Thankfully, my friends helped me out. Stephanie, Max, and Jennifer came to the rescue and helped me establish my home studio. Luckily, I have understanding neighbors who don’t complain about the dust or noise!
Inspiration for my work ranges from finding out what’s inside through direct carving to recreating forms, curves, texture, and shapes that I see in the world and in my mind. I find myself observing objects, plants, people, and clouds to soak in the beauty around me. The passion that I feel for carving burns in my soul and keeps me up at night. The stone, dust, tools, textures, and process of carving to create sculpture is gratifying.
Teaching sculpture at the high school level consumes a lot of my time. Sharing my love of stone carving comes naturally and my students are inspired by my passion for the medium. Give them stones and they will carve.
My plans include carving in Italy and participating in many more symposiums and visits to quarries. Being a stone carver and artist is part of who I am and I’m glad there are others like me. We speak the same language, have the same passion for stone, and dusty hugs are the best! I’m looking forward to continuing my stone journey for a long time and sharing it with my friends.
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