Cloud by Benjamin Heller

TALISMAN STONE CARVING WORKSHOP

I’ll be bringing my studio and elements of my sculpture practice for an active stone carving workshop that combines creative movement and hands on making.

It’s an opportunity to create in community, and immerse yourself in the process of shaping stone into a wearable personal talisman or meditative object that can be held. As well as carving, we will explore somatic movement as a way of activating and connecting with the imagination. The internal images we access will guide the process, whether they are figurative, symbolic, or abstract.

Once we get started with some general instruction, I will work with you individually to craft your Talisman from wherever you are skill wise. No prior experience is necessary to take the workshop.
I have a wide variety of stones to choose from that can be worked by hand or with power tools.

The class will be a small, intimate group, so that I can work closely with everyone.

The two day workshop is $285, which includes all tools and materials.

If you are coming in from out of town and would like to stay, lodging and accommodations are registered separately. Explore options here.

LOCATION:

Camp Wizby
564 Children's Camp Rd 
Gaysville, VT 05746

Please contact me if you have any questions
at benjaminhellerart@gmail.com or 6462216059

WHAT TO BRING:

  • Wear or bring clothes that you don’t mind getting a little wet or dirty.

  • Headphones if you want to tune out while you work.
    (Normal ear protection and PPE will be available)

  • Your Curiosity, Creativity, Hands, and Heart

Sigil by Noura Ismaeli

Ear by Benjamin Heller

MORE ABOUT TALISMAN

For years I have been carving meditative objects and personal talisman. It is one of the deep roots of my practice that I often turn to in times of change, as a way to re-connect with my own center. I have also made them as gifts, to share connection with friends and loved ones. It is a practice that tunes into the body and the deeper desires and intentions of how I want to be in the world.

Recently I’ve felt called in these shifting times, to share this work and practice with others. I’m offering this workshop as a way to gather community, and also because I think that the hands-on and embodied process of engaging with creativity is just as important as the object. I find so much of the meaning is in the making. It is an empowering experience to find how a material as hard as stone can be shaped into something soft and sensual.

Historically, a Talisman is any object ascribed with spiritual, religious, or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or guide the individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone or worn in a variety of ways, but can also be installed permanently in architecture. The word talisman comes from French talisman, via Arabic ṭilasm (طِلَسْم, plural طلاسم ṭalāsim), derived from ancient Greek telesma (τέλεσμα), and the verb teleō (τελέω), "I complete, perform a rite”. [wiki]

To work with stone, is to work with elemental earth and deep time. I find that as I transform the material, it transforms me.

PHOTOS FROM THE WORKSHOP