Penelope Crittenden – Artist Spotlight (2023)

NWSSA: What got you started being a sculptor?

A long time ago two things occurred simultaneously, that led to my becoming a sculptor. The first was the cover of a book I was reading that had a dramatic image of a man whose long hair and beard were being whipped about by a ferocious wind. The second was joining NWSSA. However, there was a space of about 30 years in between the two.

First the book jacket. I was so taken with the drama of the image that it lodged in my mind. Not having progressed past stick figures in drawing, there was no hope for me to draw it, but the image lingered. At the time I was living on a cliff above the ocean in Laguna Beach. It was a tiny house and patio built in amongst a lot of natural rock. In among these rocks, there was one in particular that was exactly same shape as ‘Neptune.’ (By this time, I had named the image.) For some reason the idea dawned on me that, since the rock was the same shape, maybe, I could make this rock look like the guy on the cover. I had a stout slotted screwdriver and a stout hammer, so I got to work.

Keep in mind at this point, having never taken an art course in my life and thinking all sculptors were dead, (well, all the ones I had heard of were dead,) I happily whacked away with screw driver and framing hammer until I thought the rock looked vaguely like the guy on the cover. Then I sanded it and put some sort of oil or wax on it, and called it done.

Possibly because I had actually made something out of a rock, my antennae were receptive to notice similar things. Around that time I was helping build artists’ booths for the Laguna Festival of the Arts, and two of the people I worked for, were actually making a living out of carving stone…and they weren’t dead. I was amazed and delighted to learn that there were actually tools and stone available to real people and that I could give it a try. Ralph Tarzian and Miriam Shelton, both wonderful stone carvers, and I became friends and in between raising my daughter, having a 9-5 job as a Stress Management Therapist and presenting Mind/Body workshops, I apprenticed with them whenever I could. I learned some basic techniques and a lot about hand tools. I even purchased a couple of chisels and a hammer and played with stone that was left over from Miriam and Ralph’s projects. When I left Laguna, I took those chisels with me, along with a rudimentary carving of an elephant and some old soapstone.

More years pass, and when I finally got around the soapstone, which had been living outside, it was highly compromised. I didn’t know this until I started to carve it. The piece was intended to be several inches higher, (more head,) and several inches lower, (more face and chin.) However, pieces kept breaking off and so I went from Plan A to Plan B, etc., until I finally decided I had to stop or all there would be left would be a nose. I thought the resulting piece looked like an artistic person. So I named it The Poet.

More years pass, and in the late 1990s, I heard about NWSSA and a Symposium at Camp Brotherhood. So I registered and drove up to see what it was about. I got there during breakfast and walked into a vast room (Fisher Hall) filled with what seemed like a thousand strangers, all laughing and talking. I thought perhaps if I walked backwards, I could leave the building and no one would notice, but then Arliss caught my eye and escape was out of the question. Little did I know that there weren’t a thousand strangers in that room, but about a hundred new friends. Thank you, Arliss.

The general wisdom is that most groups are microcosms of the greater world, but I have found NWSSA to be different. It’s a microcosm of the world we would all like to live in, where divisive ideologies are set aside, and people are generous and supportive with one another.

In the many symposiums that followed, I bought more tools and stone, went to workshops, learned about tool use, techniques and safety, and discovered a tribe whose idea of a good time was making dust.

Over time I experimented with Shapes…

With Figures….

And Owls… many owls…

A few years ago, I broke my wrist in a way that put an end to my carving. But I still had some design ideas and some beautiful stones. I wasn’t quite finished. After figuring out the logistics, my generous and talented studio mate, Lane Tompkins and I, decided to join forces. He would carve some of these designs into reality.

Stone is a wonderful medium. Certainly, it can be challenging and frustrating. But working with stone has helped me learn patience, persistence and when to stop persisting. It’s led me on a path of self-discovery, creativity and friendship.