From The Editor – June 2026

Stone carving is so often a solitary pursuit. We spend hours alone in our studios, masked up and covered in dust, wrestling with heavy materials and harmonic oscillations. But as this issue beautifully illustrates, our craft is inextricably tied to community.

As we gear up for the summer symposia at Suttle Lake and Pilgrim Firs, this quarter’s journal is a celebration of what happens when we come together. On top of a taste of this year’s featured Symposia artists, we get a healthy, humorous reality check from Jeremy Kester on the blue-collar grit required to make monumental art. We take a tour of The Stone Yard’s collaborative oasis and get a peek at new work in our first Members’ Gallery. We also shine a much-deserved spotlight on Renée Roberts, who keeps us running smoothly.

Finally, we’ve included a bittersweet reminder of why we gather in the first place with a poem by Larry Eickstaedt: A Touching Finish, perfectly captures how the repetitive, daily acts of carving mirror the slow, beautiful way we build lasting friendships.

Before you dive in, a quick note of correction: in our last issue, we accidentally omitted the photo attributions for several beautiful pieces. We sincerely apologize for the oversight! The correct attributions are as follows:

• Page 18: Two eggs carved by George Pratt (left egg, unknown stone; right egg, Polar jade).
• Page 19: (From top right) Leaping Frog, George Pratt, Polar jade; Crosswing Dove, George Pratt, Parian marble; Torso, Michael Binkley, Petacchi marble; various Bird sculptures, George Pratt, Arebescato marble; Catch, Michael Binkley, Statuario, Jupiter marble & granite; and Bird, Michael Binkley, nephrite jade.

Whether you’re packing your bags for a summer symposium or just heading out to your own shop, I hope this issue reminds you that you’re part of a stubborn, ingenious, and incredibly supportive community.

Keep carving,

Leah Editor, NWSSA Journal