Any stone carvers here?

[GaryR]

I think I've mentioned that I now live in the middle of Indiana's limestone belt. For a small town, there are an unusual number of limestone clad buildings, especially on the university campus. There and around town there are also quite a few stone carvings.

Last weekend, since it is winter break and students are away, I took the dogs for a walk on the campus and to look around.

A sleeping student and a professor yelling at him to "wake up".



These are on the entrance to a building built in 1924 as a memorial to the fallen in WW1. It was the university's first dormitory for women. The building also has this carved near the entrance, a not-so-subtle warning to the residents to guard their virtue.



As it happens, I worked in the building next door to this one from 1981-1990, and I never once noticed it.




There is a nationally known stone carving workshop here every summer. I'm thinking of taking one of their beginning carving classes.

 

[Cabinetman]

Lovely work, but I’m not sure that that’s a Professor though , I think it’s one of the Stonemasons, he’s got a mallet in his hand. Back in the big Cathedral building 12th century the Stonemasons did a bit of Character work, poking fun at people who would probably never see they were being lampooned. Then there’s the imp in Lincoln cathedral that was frozen in stone after doing something nasty. Sorry can’t quite remember what. The imp is on this column.
I went around the workshops, glass and masonry, both fascinating.

 

[Cabinetman]

Good job on doing the course, would love to do some, just to get the feel of it.

 

[toolsntat]

Lovely work, but I’m not sure that that’s a Professor though , I think it’s one of the Stonemasons, he’s got a mallet in his hand.

Might that also be a representation of a hand bell with exposed Clapper?
Cheers, Andy

 

[Blackswanwood]

They do look impressive @GaryR.

York Minster (the biggest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe) has a viewing area for watching their stone masons at work. It seems to be a job that attracts people with a sense of humour as there are two Star Trek characters (a Klingon and a Ferengi) amongst the many gargoyles.

 

[GaryR]

Something similar in New York City at the cathedral of St. John the Divine, which has been under construction for over a hundred years. Most of the carvings are religious iconography but there are plenty of whimsical pieces, too. There is a web site devoted to its stonework:

Divine Stone Archives - Divine Stone

The organizer of the Limestone Symposium here is Amy Brier, who was a carver at St. Johns for awhile.

When I lived here in the 1980's I took a weekend carving class and made this stone frog. Even though I didn't finish it I've hauled it cross country three times and it has welcomed visitors to my house all along. Maybe this year I'll finish it.

 

[Cabinetman]

Might that also be a representation of a hand bell with exposed Clapper?
Cheers, Andy

Oh, well spotted, probably right then and he has a thing about punctuality?