We invite you to get to know our faculty and staff:

workshop founder and director, Mark Saxe,

lead staff member Petro Hul,

and some of our previous GUEST INSTRUCTORS AND ARTISTS

COME AND CARVE Session 1 is a self-directed program open to our returning students. Students bring their own stone and tools or purchase them on site. Instruction is minimal. Lunch is not provided. Please contact Mark Saxe if you have questions: 505.579.9179

Register Now Session 1 TUITION $525 + tax (and applicable fees)

FEAR NO STONE Session 2 with Guest Instructor, Tim Lehmann includes an orientation session for new students and demonstrations of the uses of various basic hand chisels. Students are strongly encouraged to bring a model, such as a small three-dimensional shape in clay, a figurine, a toy, or an item from nature, which will serve as a guide as well as a way to communicate one’s objective with the instructors. Beginning students may choose to develop their basic skills by carving a mortar, which teaches blocking out, flattening the surface, symmetry, curves, etc. Regularly scheduled demonstrations are optional for all students and cover specific techniques or skill, such as tool sharpening, gold-leafing, etc. More advanced students who may work with power tools have a separate area away from those working by hand. A healthy and fresh lunch is provided each day, and the lunch hour provides a time to converse with fellow students. We end each week with a discussion of our projects, a class picture, and an informal gathering with refreshments.

For the extension option, students enrolled in Session 2 are invited to stay up to five additional days, bringing their own lunches, to continue working on their projects.

Session 2 is SOLD OUT.

Please email Betsy riftgallery@yahoo.com for instructions about how to join the waiting list.

Each session provides dedicated time to concentrate on one’s project while working alongside fellow stone carvers in a supportive environment. Quality stone carving tools from around the world are available for purchase on site. We also stock a variety of carving stone, including marble, limestone, etc.

WORKSHOPS OVERVIEW 

From our auspicious beginning in 2001, three days after 9/11, with White House carver Patrick Plunkett as our first guest instructor, Sax Stone Carving Workshops have evolved into an institution widely recognized for the level of instruction and the quality of our teachers. We have welcomed such accomplished instructors as Alexandra Morosco, Frank Haufe, Fred Brownstein, Gary Haven Smith, Joseph Kincannon, Karin Sprague, Kazutaka Uchida, Kelly Jamison, Matt Auvinen, Nicholas Fairplay and Patrick Plunkett.  Among them are American, English, German, and Japanese instructors, each of whom has left his or her own mark, and whose knowledge, skills and aesthetic have become part of the cumulative workshop experience.

Our workshops are small compared to most stone sculpture symposia, and the focus is on education. Our student to staff ratio is typically 5 to 1 or better.  Throughout the day, staff instructors circulate to make suggestions, help solve a tactical problem, point out a book in our library, offer an approach, or share an idea.

Every student gets his or her own outdoor banker (carving table), a shaded tent area, electricity, and air.  A generous piece of limestone is provided as part of the tuition, but a large variety of other stones are also available for sale.  Everyone is encouraged to have a basic set of carving tools.  The workshop has a fantastic selection of carving tools from England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US, for sale.  For beginners, it is a good idea to wait to buy tools until you have some guidance from a professional.  It is easy to waste money on inappropriate tools.  In the class, you will have time to try before you buy.

 Every morning, we have individually wrapped snacks and hot coffee and tea for you to fill up your own thermos. We have a small meeting in which we outline the day’s events and address any questions students may have.  The rest of the day consists of demonstrations, carving time, homemade lunch, followed by more carving with an optional film or power point presentation. 

Every year we learn something new and a better way of doing things.  We have a track record of taking feedback and incorporating the best suggestions.  The classes are participatory, meaning that everyone has the chance to shape not only his or her experience but also the experiences of those who follow. 

We are of the philosophy that there is more than one way to do things, but we do believe there is a right way to learn.  Sometimes the roundabout approach is better than the straight away.  After all, the most lasting lessons are those that are learned by making mistakes, by experimenting, and by pushing the envelope.

Our students have ranged in age from 14 to 94, and dedicated returning students account for over 50% of our attendance.  Some students have attended classes from the very beginning, and many students have taken five, ten, twenty, or more classes with us.

We want our students to make what they came to make and what they want to see, be it a bird, a portrait, a carved word, an angel, an abstract shape, a bowl, or the ripples on an ocean shore.

 –Mark Saxe

Applicants are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis upon receipt of tuition.

Please inquire about financial assistance and work scholarships for students under 30 years of age. We award a limited number of full scholarships.

If a pre-registered applicant has a change of plans, a refund, subject to a $50 cancellation fee, will be made if the applicant's position can be filled from the waiting list. In order to qualify for a refund, applicant must provide notification of cancellation at least days fourteen days prior to the workshop start date. In the event of the cancellation of the workshop due to unforeseen circumstances, all payments will be refunded in full. We assume no responsibility for travel costs.