On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Our artist being featured today is neabinorb! Let’s give him a warm welcome.
(As always, we are using the On the Road form for convenience, but this has nothing to do with On the Road.)
If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series – or your work as an author featured in our Authors in Our Midst series – please send me an email message.
⭐️
Carving Stone! by neabinorb
I don’t know that I’m an artist. I’m a retired librarian with no formal art education with only very limited participation in the art business (I exhibited prints of digital art some years ago at the regional pride center and even sold a couple). But I’ve drawn and painted and doodled forever. I’ve been carving limestone for about nine years, starting with borrowed tools. I always say that the tools taught me how to carve – use them the right way and they work, use them the wrong way and they don’t. I now have my own tools. I use hand tools – chisels, points and rasps, etc – and have a Dremel with engraving tools for finer details.
Carving is dirty work, so I carve outside. This means I can only carve in warm months. Here in Indiana that’s April through October. In the winter I practice painting, but it’s only practice; I’m not a painter – yet. My carving studio is a canvas tarp spread in an area of my front porch which used to be a carport. I have a section of tree trunk for a pedestal, stacked with sandbags to cushion the blows.
I make silhouette carvings inspired by the American Arts and Crafts movement and 3-dimensional pieces inspired my own feeble genius. I work in a small scale – I don’t work on stones that are too heavy for me to lift and carry – so most of my work is table or shelf size sculpture. The stone comes from quarries in southern Indiana.
To the extent that I’m able I work out designs on paper before I begin carving. But as often as not, it’s a process of discovery. Certain stones will suggest the image that they conceal, and sometimes it really feels like I’m just removing the excess stone to reveal the design hidden within.
I’ve given pieces away to family and friends but have never exhibited or sold any (this makes Balloon Juice my big coming out!). Before the pandemic I was planning to begin approaching regional galleries, but now I’m waiting for a better time – when people can safely go out to see art. Meanwhile, I’m really glad to share this with all of you.
I should add – carving is easy, photography is hard! I do the best I can with that.
A small altar. Eleven inches at its widest point, six inches tall.
Three crows. On a block seven inches tall and about two inches deep.
Two crows. Approximately same dimensions as Three crows.
Two views of a Column with trees. The column is eighteen inches tall. The trees go all around.
A maze and a piece entitled Emblem. Mazes were among my earliest projects. The parallel grooves are on three sides. The back is rough stone, and the emblem is idiosyncratic.
Four very small altars – for your smallest sacrifices. The tallest is about three inches. Average size cherry tomato for scale.
‘My little pony’ is about three inches tall. The other pieces seen here are part of a sculptural group entitled Field, consisting of over 50 unique pieces created during the 2020 pandemic summer when I attempted to carve every scrap of stone I had. They were conceived as game pieces for a nonexistent game.
My esteemed tools! Not shown – the Dremel, various picks, files and brushes, and an assortment of sandpapers.
BigJimSlade
Wow – great work!
WaterGirl
neabinorb, please chime in to let us know you are here!
Also, I don’t see a website in the writeup, so if you have one, post it in the comments and I will add it up top.
Mathguy
The Arts and Crafts pieces are terrific, especially the columns. I’m not going to show the pictures to my wife because she’ll want to buy the crow tablets. Beautiful work.
WaterGirl
@Mathguy: That would be a bad thing, why? :-)
Steeplejack
Beautiful work!
MazeDancer
neabinorb, You are an artist. Never doubt it.
The Column with Trees is especially fine work.
Yutsano
Wow…these are fantastic!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Wow. Those are evocative pieces.
What made you decide to carve stone? That would never have occurred to me in a million years.
Lifeinthebonusround
You are an artist. The pieces are really concise and diffuse at the same time. Thanks for sharing with us!
JPL
Your work is wonderful, and I especially love the description of your workshop.
RaflW
There’s a lot of great stuff there. I think Emblem may be the one that I find most intriguing.
Niques
Wow . . . wonderful work!
MagdaInBlack
Your work is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us.
WaterGirl
I wonder if neabinorb forgot this was going up this afternoon.
AM in NC
Wow. These are wonderful. The trees remind me of designs on Newcomb pottery. You totally capture that Arts & Crafts feel. How long might it take you to carve items of various sizes? And, are any of these for sale?
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl: Let’s hope neabinorb is just busy making a nice sales website with healthy price tags.
Baud
Add my wow to the others.
Josie
Everything is so great. I especially love the bird pictures. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
Gary K
A meta-comment, if I may: a casual visitor to the site would have no idea that most of this post (including all but one of the photographs) is buried along with the comments. There seem to be three types of posts on the site: (1) fully-visible posts, (2) posts ending with the tag “show full posts on front page,” e.g., the daily covid round-up, (3) posts which are not fully visible unless one looks at the comments. Would it be possible to eliminate the last category, i.e., to tag all partly-invisible posts?
pat
I want that little horsey!
Fantastic work. Thank you so much for sharing, and best of luck with getting into a gallery so others can see and appreciate your work.
PS, you’re no slouch with the photography either.
Regine Touchon
Love your work! Are those birds looking for a home? Perhaps we Balloon Juicers can create a game for your little pieces!
debbie
Love the tallest very small altar! Impressive that you can work at such a small scale.
WaterGirl
@Gary K: Good thought.
Since some of the artists posts and all of the on the road posts are done with a form, the form knows to publish just the first picture so on the road isn’t screen after screen after screen because of all 8 photos and text.
But I get your point that there’s no “see full post on the front page” to tell people that OTR posts are different.
I will ask for that in our next round of changes. I appreciate the input!
KSinMA
These are wonderful. I especially like the little altars and the game pieces for a nonexistent game. Very cool.
randy khan
@AM in NC:
Yes! Exactly. I was trying to think of the specific A&C example, and that’s it.
They’re really great.
Joy in FL
Your art is wonderful.
I especially love labyrinths, so that piece might be my favorite.
I love the ideas you have which you transfer into stone. So creative!
WaterGirl
neabinorb is on the way!
Betty
Just lovely. Thanks so much for sharing them. Good luck going forward with finding an appreciative market.
zhena gogolia
Oh, fabulous!
Mai Naem mobile
These pieces are beautiful.
The Thin Black Duke
Nice. Good work.
weasel
Oops, was going to respond to comment above about the missing ‘show full post’ link missing from articles that comes out of the On the Road form, but see it has already been addressed so I’ll just chime in with my appreciation of this great work. Especially like the small altar, game pieces, and Emblem. Great work!
Orange is the New Red
These are so interesting, thanks for letting us see them. I particularly like the tiny altars.
neabinorb
Hi, everybody! I so rarely comment. I’m not used to being here. I don’t have a website. I’m very low profile IRL and not a big presence on the web. I started playing music, or at least learning, in the mid-90s, and one of the people I played had had some training in stone work in the 70s in the CITA Program (which older readers might remember:) He is an artist (fabulous collages) and had made a few sculptures. He offered to lend me his tools and I borrowed them, and that’s how it started. I carved for a few years in the 90s and then life got complicated and I didn’t take it up again until 5 or 6 years ago.
I haven’t sold or offered anything for sale yet. Some things are too precious to sell. And I hardly know how to price them. But I thank you all for your kind words and I’ll stick around to hear more :)
and thank you, WaterGirl, for this opportunity!
skerry
I love all of these.
The crows are magnificent.
Felanius Kootea
Love these!
WaterGirl
@neabinorb: If I were an artist, I wouldn’t be able to part with anything that was really good, and I doubt I would want to sell anything that wasn’t really good. I would make a terrible artist.
And that’s before we consider the lack of talent.
zhena gogolia
@neabinorb: You are a true artist.
Kristine
I do like the crows and horse in particular, but all the pieces are lovely.
“Emblem” reminds me of the stones from the movie “The Fifth Element.
Imagining the game pieces as the start of a chess set.
BeautifulPlumage
Wow. As someone with an art degree, these are definitely Art. I most love the small altars and the “game pieces” because of their ambiguity. I would love to see all the small pieces in one photo! I also want to touch their smooth surfaces.
I’m also curious about the time spent to create the various pieces. They look like they’re all made from a similar type of stone, can you tell us about that: do you find it, buy it, etc?
Lovely work, and the photos present them well.
Also, librarians rock!
Ohio Mom
Pieces for a game that doesn’t exist is a very cool idea.
neabinorb
@AM in NC: wow. Almost everything I do takes at least 16 hours to complete. The tiny things go much faster, of course. Things like the birds were probably around 20 hours. The little altars 12-16. The column took well in excess of 20 hours. Production is slow and constrained by the seasons and my own abilities. Also it’s all done by hand, and one can only grip some of those tools for so long before the cramping begins. I like to have several things going at once so I can switch tools. But two hours at a stretch is about my limit.
Argiope
These are just marvelous. Beautiful work! I’m also a big fan of the maze and Emblem–just incredibly even, perfect grooves. How do you achieve that? And how many times did you accidentally chisel your hand when you were starting out? Seems like injury could be a risk for beginners.
neabinorb
@BeautifulPlumage: these are all limestone, mostly from a quarry near Bloomington, Indiana. And all this is from 100 pounds of stone bought for $1. It was scrap stone at the quarry. I usually hesitate to tell people this since I suspect the price of finished pieces will be considerably more per pound :)
susanna
I also like the tiny altars. What a wonderful presentation of showing how trying something new, and artistic learning more or less by chance, can lead to personal discovery and lovely pieces, as these.
CaseyL
These are wonderful! The “column with trees” look very Art Nouveau-ish to me. I love it.
KSinMA
P.S.–The cherry tomato is genius.
neabinorb
@Argiope: I use the Dremel and my smallest rasps to carve grooves. Chisels don’t really present much danger, but I frequently scrape my hands and fingers with the rasps. With chisels it’s one’s eyes that have to be protected. And it’s most important to always wear a mask! I’ve been wearing masks for years. The work is very dusty. In fact, most of the time it seems like the work is mostly about making dust. I can often work for an hour and the most obvious result is a little pile of dust, the sculpture hardly appearing changed at all.
Sure Lurkalot
I’ll just add to the refrain that your pieces are wonderful. They seem inspired by small Cycladic sculptures I’ve seen in museums that have an ancient Greek art area.
If you ever offer your work for sale, I think you’d have quite a few buyers right here.
Thanks for sharing your story and thanks WG for this Saturday feature.
BeautifulPlumage
@neabinorb: I only ever sold 2 pieces and also don’t have a good way to price them. Would a gallery be able to help you with that? My work is “fiber art” but my materials are mostly old computer bits and information media (magnetic tape, floppy discs) which are mostly free.
Love that you got the raw material so cheap, and that should have nothing to do with the final price…those stones didn’t shape themselves!
Betty
@neabinorb: I love that description of your work.
neabinorb
@WaterGirl: my house is slowly filling up with stone sculpture, which is very nice, but eventually some of it’s going to have to go.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: Next Sunday we are featuring:
Mr. Argiope – Paper, Paint and Squashed Soda Cans!
WaterGirl
@neabinorb: See, you are an artist!
neabinorb
@Sure Lurkalot: I thank you for mentioning it. Cycladic sculpture is among my favorite things!
Michael
Tu es artiste.
neabinorb
@WaterGirl: I did not expect such a response. It’s very encouraging.
WaterGirl
Between Artists and Authors, we have about half a dozen of these in the works.
So if you’re interested in being featured, please send me an email message!
WaterGirl
@neabinorb: I think it should be encouraging!
I try to check in with everyone who is featured, after their debut, and I don’t think there have been any regrets yet! :-)
dexwood
That altar with the turned down ear knocks me out. Whimsical. Well done.
Ruckus
@neabinorb:
As someone who has machined and done hand work on metal to make industrial products for well over 40 yrs I can say that your stuff is very, very good and very, very beautiful.
Decades ago most everything I did required hand work to make it functional. 2 of us once spent 3 months/50 hrs a week finishing and polishing 1/2 of a mold for a stereo system cover. Time is not an issue, the result of the work is the issue. And your results are incredible.
SFBayAreaGal
@neabinorb: I love your trees sculptures. They remind me of the trees seen on the Arts and Crafts pottery. Thank you for sharing your art.
Emma from Miami
All your work is excellent, but the mazes are exquisite.
danielx
Totally OT, but in memory of a certain notorious feline familiar to BJ olds:
Former Pittsburgh Steelers player, longtime broadcaster Tunch Ilkin dies at 63
Haroldo
The altars and mazes are top shelf!
dr. bloor
LOL, to the rest of us, the carving is impossible, and the photography is more that good.
The crows are sublime.
FelonyGovt
Your work is wonderful. The tiny altars really speak to me, and I love the concept and the execution of the “pieces for a game that doesn’t exist”. Three dimensional work is difficult and your medium seems unforgiving. You have really mastered it.
You definitely need to offer these for sale (if you can bear to part with any of them).
RedDirtGirl
@danielx: RIP!
cope
@neabinorb: The geologist in me is compelled to ask you if your stone is Bedford Limestone. I know of and have visited (very long ago) the Empire Quarry from which blocks of stone used in the construction of the Empire State Building (among many others) were produced and is near Bloomington. Bedford Limestone is revered for its isotropic properties which make it particularly easy to work.
In any event, your work is quite beautiful in its simplicity. Thank you for showing us.
Louise B.
Beautiful work. Love the altars especially.
SkyBluePink
Exquisite!
JoyceCB
Late as usual… the tree column is wonderful, but my favourite is the two crows. For something made of stone it is full of life!
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
Love the Crows and the mini-altars are wonderful. I’ve done a tiny amoint of hand chisiling basins into our local sandstone and I really admire you for doing this.
@neabinorb: I lol’ed when you mentioned carving as mainly a dust production effort!
StringOnAStick
Such lovely work, you are most definitely an artist. Good on you for being careful about the possible impacts of dust on your health and taking proper precautions.
Working in stone has always been something I have been curious about, but so far my “work” is limited to building short stone walls and I find that extremely satisfying. Collecting the rock one Subaru Outback-sized load at a time adds to the process!
neabinorb
@cope: I wish! I think some has been. I pulled it all out of a scrap yard, but I’m afraid most of it is native to the Hoadley quarry outside Blgtn, famous for its Hoadley striped stone, some of which is very challenging to carve, the “stripes”/layers being of different densities. And sometimes with very hard inclusions. My intention is to work better stone in the future for sure.
NutmegAgain
Wow!
am
Oh my god, take my money.
Seriously, if Balloon Juice ever does an art auction for wayward animals, I will be making a bid for anything you enter. If you just post a website, I might buy some, too. My advice: carve more things from scrap stone.
Anyway, you are a really fine sculptor. This was a treat.
stinger
Oh my! I love every single one of these, and would like to hold or touch them. And I want to play Field!
JimV
At first look, I thought the first altar was a chair. I’ll bet actual chairs or stools would sell, for outdoor use. (Customers could paint them–if they wanted to.) That would probably be too much work, though; and would be expensive to ship. I’ll also bet elementary school art classes would like to have some for students to paint (in washable paint).
Once you made one, there are NC machines that could “follow” it to make copies. (We used to machine turbine vanes that way at the GE Schenectady plant.) There is also 3D printing, of course. I.e., keep the originals, sell copies. (Or not, I do some hobbies just for the fun of doing them. The more you do them, the more you learn about doing them and after a while it seems like not doing them would be a waste of all the practice and knowledge.)
No One You Know
You see the spirit in the stone. That’s remarkable. And then you can make us see it.
Please post again; the photos are beautiful.
Lehrjet
Really love the tree pillars! Truly exceptional.
Yutsano
I had only seen the crows on my phone. I’m now looking on my computer. Everything looks stunning but for some reason the crows really stand out to me.
Lyrebird
@neabinorb:
These are really beautiful.
I’ll say with the others, wait wut? to “carving is easy, photography is hard!”
I have whittled a thing once out of a soft twig. That seemed incredibly difficult.
Thanks for showing these here!
raven
HOW BOUT THEM DAWGS!!!!!
steve g
What to say, that hasn’t already been said?
Here’s some of what’s been said, with counts:
Love (27), Artist (19), Beautiful (14), Wow (10), Great (7), Fantastic (3), Exquisite (3).
I think that covers it pretty well.
Richard
@BigJimSlade:
I like the altars. I like them all, but the little altars were especially nice. Of course i would burn incense. A few years ago i came across an old buffalo nickel in my coins. I would give that 5 cents one of these little altars.
Gary K
@WaterGirl: Thanks for the response. It may help some of the creative folks in our midst to get greater exposure.
Frank Wilhoit
“…If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series – or your work as an author featured in our Authors in Our Midst series – please send me an email message.”
I don’t see how to do that, and I also don’t fit into either of those two categories (there is no Composers in the Mist), but I would like to share. Guidance welcome.
Thanks,
FW
.
dkinPa
Love your work, especially the crows and mini altars!
brantl
I have to tell you that I think those crows are so essential, rendered to essence, as to be ethereal. It’s like seeing real ones, through mist.
neabinorb
@JimV: I’ve actually carved two chairs not shown here. Both were styled after the Model # mf158 designed by Pierre Chareau in 1928. One is about 3 inches tall, the other about 4 inches. I’m working up to a larger size, but the problem with that is that I don’t have a crane to lift and move larger stones. Once I’m a big success I’ll think about outsourcing fabrication.
EthylEster
@neabinorb: So using a grinding wheel would not qualify as a hand tool? Even if run by a foot pedal? You’ve got me thinking now…
Kabecoo
Your works are beautiful. Love the column!
Yesterday we attended an Art in the Park celebration in Portland OR. You would fit right in with the other artists!
karen marie
@Gary K: I agree. One would never know the rest of the photos are here except by clicking on comments. Only long experience gave me the idea there might be more.
I am in awe of Neabinorb’s talent. My special favorites are the small alters. Thank you very much for sharing!
neabinorb
@EthylEster: I use hand tools because that’s what I have and they’re simple. I’ve used a friend’s electric wheel to sharpen chisels. And I use the Dremel. But even the Dremel requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. It’s easy to make a mistake.
Krakengonewild
Wow, that really is some talent! This lurker does not comment often but I love seeing how talented and creative some people are!
not_a_cylon
That’s super cool! I like the altars and tree engravings the best. How do you achieve the dark-on-light look?
Also the Emblem piece looks like something out of The Fifth Element.