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Spring 1993 Over the years we have discussed having a newsletter to help everyone be aware of the news and activities at IAM Counseling Center. Well, here at long last is our first edition! Please let us know what you think and if you would like to contribute any articles or news that would be interesting. Many people over the years have created friendships and bonds with others but for one reason or another might have lost touch or haven't caught up. We thought it might be helpful to have this newsletter as a source for that kind of connection. Of course, all information that we include about people will be under our rules of confidentiality - so if someone has news about themselves, it will be only if that person has sent the information to us with their release to have it in the newsletter. We have always liked the idea of the "Community of Tesserville". That might have different meanings for different people, but to us there is a community of people who have come here over the years to reclaim the Child, to battle with the internal demons, and move on to new resolution and wholeness. This, in our hearts, certainly makes for a community of people. We believe the 90 acres of Tesserville Farm is a wonderful raw space. IAM Counseling Center is of course the main attraction, but our vision for the future might include a sculpture garden, gallery space, performance space and who knows what else? Lots of ideas, lots of creativity - let us know what you think. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter please send the article or information and mark "Newsletter" on the envelope.
Many people over the years have watched the development of my stone carving work. Someone suggested I write about the stones for the newsletter, which I thought was an interesting idea. One of the most often asked questions is where I get the stones? Many times I buy stones in New York City. There is a place on 6th Street called Sculpture Supplies which has a very large warehouse room filled with stones in large piles arranged in categories of type of stones. There are (in order of hardness) granites, marbles, limestones, African wonder stones, alabasters, and soapstones. Great stuff! The stones are sold by weight, usually $1 - $2 per pound. The last stone I bought was a 300 lb. piece of alabaster at $1.10 per pound, so you can see the stones are costly to buy. Stones can be bought in Vermont, Georgia and Colorado where there are quarries. There are also suppliers who carry stone from all over the world. Working small is one thing, but working large is another when one has to transport stone. I take the Volvo station wagon into NYC to pick up stones. I have had a 50 pound piece UPS'd! A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go to Pietrasanta and Carrara, Italy, the mecca of marble stone carving. Studios originating from Michaelangelo's time still exist and the quarries look like snow covered mountain ranges, but it is actually marble! It's a fascinating place. The stone work itself for me is one of the most powerful art mediums. It is meditation, body work and creative force all rolled into one exercise. Stone carvers work in different ways (as do all Tesserville artists). I usually do not have a pre-conceived idea of what the stone will be. I spend a long time just "being with" the stone, working on shapes and areas of the stone, then I sense the stone and I are coming to a mutual agreement. The stone carving adage is if you are carving a torso, one simply chisels away everything that is not a torso. Depending on the power of your faith life, this might be true! Needless to say, it is difficult work. If in the studio at Tesserville or at home, you have ever done three dimensional work, you understand how complicated the work can get when adding the 360 degree element to the work. Chiseling, filing, and polishing are all areas that can take years to master. I still consider myself a novice. When I was at the Arts Students League in NYC, I worked with a man from Japan who had spent five years cleaning the tools for the master as part of his training. I always want the American quick learn, but the stone carving brings me back to the slow movement of process. I am always speaking of process in my work at Tesserville. Creativity as well as the therapeutic process is like the work of the stone. Small areas to be worked on until the whole begins to emerge. One area links to the next, one view connects with another, the whole is transformed. While in session with someone one day, that person used the phrase, "written in stone" as a place in their life that could not be changed. I was quick to point out from my stone three feet away that even if something is written in stone, it can be changed! A little chiseling might be painful, but if one of our "views" is not working it can be changed. So maybe this "reality testing" of the nature of carving can help the next time you think the way you are is written in stone! |
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