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Article from "The Daily Mail" on July 10th, 2013
*PLEASE NOTE THAT DATES AND TIMES CHANGE FROM YEAR TO YEAR look to the event pages for details on current year dates and time
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"Rock of Ages: Stone carving class returns"
By Jim Planck Columbia-Greene Media
HUNTER — To most people, the idea of sculpting or carving in stone perhaps seems like an insurmountable challenge, but stone carving instructor Kevin Vanhentenryck, of Westkill, will tell you that not only can you do it, but you’ll enjoy it. Vanhentenryck knows of what he speaks, as every year for the past five years he has been showing folks how to do stone carvings at a little rock park next to the Hunter Town Hall. The town, in fact, is one of the sponsors for the free classes, along with the Village of Tannersville, with primary funding coming from the Greene County Council on the Arts. Several businesses and quarries, both local and distant, also help out with donations of equipment and supplies, or with reduced prices on safety equipment. In short, the annual stone carving seminar has been a marked success, and it is about to start its 2013 session very soon, on July 29, and will run through Aug. 10.
“It’s free, and there is no talent or artistic ability required,” Vanhentenryck said Thursday. “We have a dozen blocks of stone, ranging in size from two to twelve tons.”
“Every year it gets bigger and better,” he said. “Last year we had 76 people, and it’s been growing, so I’m hoping we’ll reach one hundred this year.”
“We always have a good participation from previous years,” he said, “and there are a few that have come back every year.”
Vanhentenryck said the most important thing to remember is that there is no set time requirement or duration for anyone — they can come every day for both weeks, or just come one day for a couple hours — whatever a person wants.
“They can come for five minutes, an hour, an afternoon, or just stop by and say hi,” he said. “We love to have visitors to the site.”
Vanhentenryck did note, however, that peak participation times are during the middle of the day, so to ensure getting a carving tool or an airline, morning or afternoons can work well.
“Also, this year, for the first time, I have an assistant instructor, Jon Wilt,” he said. “He has a couple carvings at the sculpture park already.”
Vanhentenryck said the hours are Monday-Saturday, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and to bring your own lunch and personal safety equipment, which he said is eye protection and a dust mask, and that many wear ear baffles and work gloves as well.
“Last year, we got a large 12-ton block of bluestone,” Vanhentenryck said. It will be for a piece he is carving called, “Spirit of the Mountains,” which he said is “a classical female allegory, like the Statue of Liberty.”Vanhentenryck said she will be holding an urn on her left shoulder, from which water goes into Kaaterskill Falls, which will be carved into her garment.
“In her right arm she cradles the Infant to the Future,” he said, adding that a bear will also be on one side of her, a mountain lion on the other, and a baby deer in front of her, with all sorts of Catskill Mountain flora and fauna also represented.
“So I’ll be carving on that the week before the classes,” he said. The sculpture mini-park is adjacent to the Hunter Town Hall, on Route 23A, immediately east of Tannersville. source: http://www.registerstar.com/the_daily_mail/news/article_bde09420-f0ff-11e2-ab11-0019bb2963f4.html
