message from UK

[Stephen West <stephen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I posted this message the other day and as it didn't
appear i realised i had changed my e-mail reply address!
I was repying to the 'things have gone quiet' message
since when there have been more and some on Slate in
Newfoundland so thanks for the web addresses to look at!

Have things gone quiet? perhaps its the holiday season,
even for stonies! I've been busy here in Wales (UK)
dressing a large block of Grinshill Sandstone in the
garden, its quite hard and I'm using a new silicon
carbide tipped punch I got recently. When I say
'dressing' I mean I'm knocking all the discoloured and
lichen off with a nice regular diagonal trough to see
what it will become...

Now its in that nervous state of 'which way to go?' -
I've had this dilemma in all my work since I was at
college - i greatly respect the universal power of
abstract symbols and the work of Brancusi and Noguchi,
but i just love medeaval and Romanesque carving and you
see it all over Britain - little carved heads peeping
 from the tops of churches

perhaps i can use most of the block for a massive
abstract statement of the power of the block and keep
the head quite small, almost incidental....

no, I've got to leave it a day or two... it'll suddenly
become clear...

I'm off to Aberystwyth Arts center on the coast on
Friday to teach a three day carving course - we're using
Bath Stone - clear and relatively quick to carve, there
are 15 participants - I'll let you know how I get on....

With my other (Project manager) hat on I'm also looking
for slate carvers for a residency in the slate quarrying
communities in Bethesda, Nantle and Corris in North
Wales - they say the only place in the world with the
same quality of slate to Llanberis is in Newfoundland!
can this be true -- where are the slate outcrops in
United States - do they come with Granite as in Blaenau
Ffestiniog?  Thewre was a tradition of carving slate
fiteplaces in Bethesda and surrounding area which died
out - is there any tradition like that in USA I wonder

Cheers from this side of the pond

Stephen