learning / apprenticeships

["Daniel H. Weiskotten" <weiskotten@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All:

	I'm new to the list but have been through the archive looking for
information on how to get into an apprenticeship program or otherwise
learning the art of architectural stone carving.  I grew up along the
Onondaga escarpment (limestone) in Central New York and had plenty of
sandstone and bluestone quarries nearby, have toured extensively in Vermont
(marble, slate, and limestone) and now live among the old granite quarries
of Richmond, VA.  Having studied the wonderful stone architecture of the
Erie canal, numerous historic houses, as well as the tombstone carvers of
Central New York, I have always had a fascination with cut stone used in
buildings, canal locks, curbs, cobblestones, hitching posts, and
tombstones.  Professionally I am an historian and archaeologist but am
looking to take a shot at carving stone.

	I have been asking around the shops and quarries in Richmond and at the
local art schools but am getting no where as people seem to be more into
sculpture and making veneer and counter tops than in building stone.  I
would simply like to learn how to cut a hunk of granite into a form that
would be good for door sills, garden benches, columns, and a plethora of
other forms necessary for buildings and gardens.  I had thought that in a
revitializing old city like Richmond, with numerous huge buildings of
stone, that there would be a local need for such work, but no one that I
have found seems to do that kind of work or if they have an order they get
their materials fabricated in distant shops.

	Does anyone have any suggestions for where I could go in the Richmond, VA
region to learn the art of stone carving????

	Thanks!
		Dan W.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyccazen/