Learn to sculpt and carve the native Bluestone of the Catskill Mountains.
with master sculptor Kevin VanHentenryck
JOIN US – learn to work the ancient stone – and take your carving with you.It’s not as hard as you think! Art experience, or “talent” not required, and it’s FUN!!!
The Opus 40 Stone Carving Workshop is a guided half day, one day or two day session, with instruction from master sculptor Kevin VanHentenryck, designed to teach everyone the ancient Art of Stone Carving. From concept to surface finish, both hand and pneumatic carving techniques will be covered. Whether you’re a kid, or an old-timer, everyone is carving within the first twenty minutes, and everyone will take home their very own piece of the Catskills with their carving on it.
Kevin VanHentenryck
He is a self-taught sculptor, has been a lover of stone his whole life, and a sculptor of it since 1975. As a child he saw faces in tree bark, and carried home small stones from family vacations.
In 1975 while studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Art, he saw an early Ken Russell film called the Savage Messiah about the life of sculptor Henri Gaudier. “…Stone is ancient when compared to humans. Even a young stone like our Catskill mountain bluestone is 360 million years old, and what we carve into the stone may last a very long time.”
VanHentenryck (known for his life size sculpture of Rip VanWinkle at the summit of Hunter Mountain) has been working for almost 30 years from his studio, Custom Sculpture in Westkill, N.Y., to produce a wide variety of sculpture, as well as the finest carved/ sculptural signs in the region.
