President’s Message – Jan-Feb 2014

There will be a three day hand carving workshop starting April 25^th on Camano Island at the Matzke Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park, which is a wonderful introduction to stone carving as well as great place to hone your hand carving skills.   

For those already carving, beginning May 5^th, two NWSSA veterans George Pratt and Michael Binkley will be holding in Vancouver, BC a five-day no nonsense intensive professional carving workshop for those who make (or want to make, a living carving stone). 

The week after that is StoneFest, where for the tenth year, Marenakos brings stone carvers, stone masons, letter carvers, landscape designers, architects, and those who simply love stone, together to make great things in Issaquah. 

For those with an interest in figurative carving, Sabah will teach a one day workshop on head/face carving at his studio on Feb 15^th, to be followed on March 15 by one on figurative carving. These are a great way to get the hands on hands-on basics of figurative carving and one-on-one instruction from Sabah.

Tim Reisenauer, a psychologist, will be holding a one-day workshop the first of March on using your personal strengths to find your personal carving style. This workshop comes with an on-line survey that you will use in the workshop to talk about your strengths and how to use them in pursuing your work. To learn more visit www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu and take the “VIA Survey of Character Strengths.” Even if you don’t go to the workshop you’ll find it interesting, especially if you are a fan of the books: the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron or I’d Rather Be in the Studio by Alyson Stanfield.

So many good things that will make your time carving productive and meaningful, hope you can make some of these events.

Carve proud…

 …..Carl