I was very fortunate to get to do a bit of a North American stone tour this Autumn, starting off with a return to the Dry Stone Canada, stone festival on Amherst Island. Dry Stone Festival, Amherst Island, Canada The festival was hosted on the island by Topsy Farms. Topsy Farms is a long established sheep farm well known for their quality sheep, wool, and wool products. Using stone collected from the property, we built a 120 foot mixed granite/limestone wall near the barn, a

Earlier in the year I was commissioned under the Per Cent for Art scheme to create a sculpture for a secondary school in Drogheda Co. Louth. The brief was to create a piece to commemorate the transition of the school from its humble beginnings into the new extensive extension, the sculpture is based on the subject of the movement of  time. Our history traced through stone. The permanence of stone means that much of what we know about our past has been discovered through exami

Can tradespeople be artists? An interesting question which is being explored by a new Irish series on TG4 at the moment called ‘Dullamullóg’ Launched last Sunday 13th January, the show follows six tradespeople who take on the challenge of creating a piece of critically acclaimed art. Each tradesperson is paired up with a professional artist who helps them with their work. The final piece is then put in amongst professional art works which are all scrutinised by art critic Cia

Happy New Year everyone. I feel the need to write a new blog post as I have been neglecting to do so over the past six months or so. Looking back at 2012 it has been a mixed year. While battling our way though a severe recession I reflected on some of the positives of 2012. Although I had a long and quiet winter and spring, 2012 did bring along a few projects that I am very happy with. I did get to make a stone mosaic panel that I had been wanting to make for some time. My mi

Winter is a difficult time for a stonemason, as it is often to cold or wet to work. At this time of year you will find many twitchy stonemasons bundled up in their homes or studios like children waiting for the rain to stop so that they can go back out and play. This is, however, a great time to get inspired and conjure up interesting projects for the spring. This is exactly what Vermont sculptor and stonemason Chris Miller did. Inspired by this stone VW beetle built  in a fi