In Hunter, New York, a tradition built on steel tools, bluestone, and patient instruction is still drawing new hands to natural stone. Sculptor Kevin VanHentenryck, 73, came back to Hunter Town Hall for the 19th year of his free stone-carving seminar, welcoming first-timers and experienced carvers for two weeks of work on pieces large and small.
VanHentenryck traces his own start to a moment of inspiration while he was studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan. After watching the 1972 film Savage Messiah and seeing a close-up of a carver’s hands working a block of stone, he went to an art supply store near the school and picked up tools. He says that first contact, steel to stone, set his path.
At the town hall, students carve bluestone donated for the event. Larger works remain on the grounds as a year-round outdoor display, while smaller pieces go home with the artists. The town hall site also reflects a practical jobsite truth that translates across stonework: access and safety drive planning. VanHentenryck first pictured holding the seminar along Platte Clove Road, but town officials steered the group to the safer town hall grounds.
Participants bring their own styles and reasons for showing up. Sculptor Dena Paige-Fischer, who splits time between New York City and a family home in Jewett, carved a series of stone feet and even painted toenails with pigment derived from rocks. Kendra Pedersen, who lives on the West Coast, has returned to her bluestone piece over the years and said her work pulls from Indigenous roots and time spent in the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona.
Next year is set to mark VanHentenryck’s 20th seminar, and he plans to retire afterward. Students are already talking about keeping it alive, including by learning the less glamorous skills that keep any stone operation moving, like sharpening tools.
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