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Melissa Wright from Australia enjoys meeting other sculptors and old friends when she returns to Taranaki for each stone symposium.
Clouds of dust and the scream of power tools biting through stone belies the camaraderie amongst the sculptors busy creating art from big grey stones along New Plymouth’s foreshore walkway.
The 25 artists taking part in the biennial Te Kupenga Stone Sculpture Symposium are each enclosed in a bubble of noise and safety gear, as they work in view of passers-by.
The event began on January 1 with a powhiri. Over the next three weeks, each artist can make two sculptures, which will be exhibited from January 21, then auctioned on January 28.
Former New Plymouth artist Melissa Wright, who now lives in New South Wales, is a regular participant in the event, which draws “a really nice mix” of local sculptors and people from further afield. This year, four are from overseas.
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“It’s a very social event, I took the internationals down to see the festival of lights last night, we have barbecues, we go down the beach,” she said.
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Wright has been carving stones for about 12 years.
“I just love carving, and I don’t have the opportunity in Australia to work like this, this is one of the few events like this, it’s important.
The artists are all working on andesite stones from Taranaki Maunga, which vary in colour and in how hard or soft they are.
“It can be really hard and polish up beautifully, it’s a sacred stone to us,” she said.
Making art this way is hard, physical work, and the artists work under gazebos, wearing overalls, masks, ear protection and gloves.
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Mario Lopes from Portugal works out where to cut on his project. He is one of four international artists at the event.
They use electric grinders of varying size with diamond blades to cut away the stone, with hammers and chisels for finer work.
Some have an idea before they start, others come up with a design after they select a stone.
“It’s always exciting,” said Wright.
“For me and many of the artists, it’s more about the process than the product.”
Some of them took up the craft after seeing previous symposiums, including Andrea Connor of New Plymouth.
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Andrea Connor gets underway with her work.
“It’s a real meeting of the minds,” she said.
“I really like that there are so many women involved this time, in the club it’s about half-and-half, and many of us are “of an age”.
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Andrea Connor of New Plymouth and Hiroyuki Asakawa from Japan.
Hiroyuki Asakawa from Japan said he hoped his work would make people happy when they saw it, as this would make him happy too.
It is the first time that Mario Lopes from Portugal has attended the New Plymouth event, but he said he was planning to come back.
He said he comes up with an idea before he starts carving the stone.
“You have to find the idea inside it.”
