The studio
has a normal compliment of 4 full time assistants with a number
of part time helpers. The assistants are at various stages of
their training, from students just out of Art School to those
who have been in the studio a number of years. Most assistants
stay for about 4 — 5 years and then venture out on their
own. The studio takes in trainee assistants as and when necessary
but there is usually a vacancy of some sort
The basis
of training in craft is now very different from the time when
the crafts were part of many people’s lives.
The opening
hours of the studio are from 8 o’clock in the morning until
5 in the evening, although it is often open at other times and
at weekends. Visitors are most welcome, but should always ‘phone
beforehand.
Training
The task of
designing a gravestone brings together a number of disciplines,
which if properly understood, enable the practitioner to make
a successful memorial.
These disciplines
divide into the following areas: knowledge of stone and its weathering,
knowledge and understanding of letter forms and last but not least,
a craft training to enable letters to be cut in stone that are
permanent and beautiful.
A moment’s
thought will make one realise how inextricably these three strands,
knowledge of stone, drawing of letters and letter cutting are
bound together, each informing the other as to what is appropriate
and right.
Where does
one look for training today? No longer to the monumental mason,
who has long since traded craft pride for the pursuit of commerce,
with a headlong rush toward computerisation and the mechanical
reproduction of letters into stone.
Of course,
a grounding in financial housekeeping is important, but it is
the love of making that sets the craftsperson apart from a pursuit
of commerce. The true notion of ‘work for oneself’ has
a deeper significance within the words; it means that the final
arbiter of one’s work must always be oneself, never clients
who inevitably flatter, nor the financial rewards that bring only
temporary gain, but the ultimate reward of knowing you have given
your best to get the work right to one’s own satisfaction.
This rests great responsibility on the craftsperson but it is
this very responsibility in making, beholden to no other, that
encourages gifted people to devote their lives to making beautiful
objects. The combination of self-criticism and self-motivation
should be welcome and exploited to its full and undoubted potential.
To reiterate
the question. Where is this special training to be found? The
answer is a strangely modern one and full of the contradictions
of our age. Gone are the days of indentured craft apprenticeships,
steeped in working class pride in a craft with its apparently
unchanging body of knowledge handed down from generation to generation.
The new craftspeople is now predominately middle class and without
support from the formal institutions of manufacturing and training.
The contemporary world they live in is awash with information
on a multitude of things that are accessible as never before,
through books, video, the internet and a plethora of vocational
courses both part and full-time. Those seeking out skills for
making memorials now have to search for the knowledge in a personally
driven and diverse way.
Aspiring letter
carvers should begin by looking at some of the many excellent
books published on lettering and carving. From examples in these
books, start drawing, and keep on drawing. Drawing practice is
the equivalent of musicians practising their scales and it cannot
be over-emphasised how important this is. They should search out
and visit some of the many crafts people scattered around the
country carving fine memorials. There are more than ever before
providing a rich resource for study. Inspiration can also be found
by looking at the very best examples of memorials to be found
in cathedrals, churches and burial grounds.
They
could attend one of the many part time calligraphy classes, or
even contemplate joining one of the full time lettering and calligraphy
courses. But
Carefully
checkout the curriculum and tutors. Beware of hacks teaching!
I know from experience that some of the teaching falls very short
of what is required. Another or complementary route is to attend
one of the masonry colleges for a useful grounding in the working
of stone. None of these resources in it produces the necessary
skills but together they build up a mosaic of knowledge that will
allow students to approach one of the letter carvers who take
on assistants so that the diverse knowledge can be honed and focused.
In short,
there in no established method of learning how to carve headstones,
but if one is inspired by beautiful letter cutting, one will be
drawn to discover a way in for oneself, following intuition and
the touch stones discussed. Working in the commercial trade should
be avoided as it sadly teaches bad habits and attitudes. It is
better to stack shelves part-time in a supermarket and to practice
letter carving and drawing during the rest of ones frees time.
It is salutary
to reflect that the two most influential people on 20th century
craft lettering, Edward Johnson and Eric Gill, were in the non-pejorative
meaning of the word, amateurs. They became driven by a powerful
desire to know the high ground of their craft. They both undertook
this by diligent research, study and most importantly, by the
physical application of hand and eye.
