Alice Cunningham Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy 2014
In 2015 I was lucky enough to be selected by the Royal Society of Sculptors for the Brian Mercer stone carving residency in Pietrasanta in Italy. I was working for three months in Studio Sem, a very prestigious stone carving studio. It was a life changing experience to be immersed in the world of stone sculpture and discover first hand the beauty and brutality of the quarrying process.
I spent the first studio days meeting the artisans (master craftsmen and women) and artists currently working at Studio Sem. Looking at the huge spectrum of different marble sculptures around the space, from Christ, lots of naked women and hippos to abstract and organic forms, my thoughts and ideas were opening. I was also getting increasingly scared that I would break something. I felt like a child who had eaten too much sugar and been left in an antiques shop.
I drew and drew and read (a new great anthropological book I bought called “Lines” by Tim Ingold). I found it really helpful to begin to make models in clay. It was a quick way to get forms and ideas out. I made seven or so models before Keara and the artisans came and gave helpful comments about the practicality of how the forms might work in marble. They have so much experience that they can be so quickly and accurately perceptive.
With the models, I continued exploring ideas of natural versus geometric line/ form. I was interested in extending this into stone – the cut versus the natural surface with an intention to talk about the action/process of human work with the marble as well as referencing the stones’ inherent signs of its own process.
After deciding more on a concept than definite form with Keara’s advice, I chose a piece of marble that had a sense of embodied movement (relating to the process of how marble forms under intense heat and pressure) implied in its natural very textured surface. Simone Fortini (one of the artisans) took me through the basics of using the different tools until he was reassured I knew how to use them safely. The air hammer seemed like a cruel joke! I couldn’t believe it when I held it, I could hardly put the chisel into the hammer they were both vibrating so fast. It felt like those bicycles you ride at funfairs that go the opposite way to normal. T he vibrations made control almost impossible and I began to doubt I could do this. However, with some guidance and patience and much flying marble (and a small bit of blood), I got a bit more control of it.
