Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | Q 721.0441 FRE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | Q 721.0441 FRE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | Q 721.0441 FRE | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
More than 125 gorgeous photographs showcase the beauty of award-winning stonemason Lew French's work in eight different homes, illustrating how rounded fieldstone, gray slate, rough granite, and even curvy driftwood can be incorporated into stunning pieces of functional art.
Author Notes
Lew French was born in a small farming town in southern Minnesota, called Zumbrota. He started to work with stone when he was nineteen years old. He had a small construction crew right out of high school and built one or two houses a year. This is when he started to explore with stone.
He moved to Martha's Vineyard twenty years ago, and for the past twenty years has worked on his own stone designs exclusively. His work has been featured in the New York Times and House Beautiful.
Alison Shaw is a fine-art and editorial photographer who lives and works on Martha's Vineyard, which has provided the inspiration and subject matter for much of her color and black-and-white photography. Over 5000 of her original fine art prints are in public and private collections. Alison's work appears regularly in Yankee Magazine, Martha's Vineyard Magazine and Cape Cod Life.
Reviews (1)
Kirkus Review
A stunning collection that highlights the memorable work of one of America's finest stone masons. Simple and powerful, French's incredible sculptures evoke a near spiritual reaction. With over 130 graceful photographs by a noted fine-art photographer, readers are able to explore French's unique style as it is displayed in eight different houses. The featured pieces are varied, ranging from the functional, such as fireplaces, walls, patios and home courtyards, to the artful, such as purely aesthetic gardens and landscape sculpture. And, they make use of surprisingly diverse materials, including fieldstone, grey slate, granite and even driftwood. French accompanies each photograph with detailed accounts of the project, walking through the entire artistic process. The book captures French's refreshingly homespun labor of love--readers will feel as though they've been to the quarry with the artist to pick out his materials and sweated under the sun to create the distinctive lines of his sculpture. Particularly inspirational for anyone interested in home or landscape architecture, this visual treat is also a spectacular celebration of an ancient art. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Working with stone for the past twenty-eight years has been one continuous learning experience for me. I have designed and built a wide variety of stone objects, including fireplaces, walls, gardens, patios, interior spaces, sculptures, and landscapes. Throughout all this creating and building, I am still amazed at how much I do not know or understand about this simple and basic material called stone. I had just turned nineteen when I first used stone in a building project. I sensed that there was something special about stone, but I did not begin to realize its full potential until I built a black limestone exterior chimney about three years later. While working on the chimney, the full force of the stone's power and energy hit me. It was an awakening. I remember, to this day, going to the quarry, handpicking the stones to be used, mixing the cement powder with the washed sand to make the concrete to hold the stones in place. I was doing all the work myself, putting in twelve-hour days of backbreaking labor. At night I would find myself in bed, so tired from the day's work in the hot sun but still not able to fall asleep, just laying there on my back. I waited anxiously for daybreak, so I could go back to work and lay more stone, thoughts racing through my mind, so excited about the hypnotic energy that the emerging patterns of the stones were creating. I wanted to create a bigger picture, at the end of the day I'd set my tools down and just stare at what was unfolding. It was not about the work-I liked being outdoors, working for myself, and being physically active. But the physical work was just a means to the end: the completed six-by-twenty-two-foot rectangular form. When it was finished, I could not stop myself from looking at it. The visual impact that the stonework had on me was like nothing I had experienced in my young life. For the first time I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with stone. Excerpted from Stone by Design: The Artistry of Lew French by Lew French All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. 9 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 10 |
| Introduction | p. 13 |
| Transformations in Stone: A Writing Studio | p. 21 |
| Landscaping with Stone: The Quitsa Pond Project | p. 35 |
| When Stone Inspires the Design: Isabella's Cave | p. 65 |
| Stone Craftsmanship: Splitting with Feathers and Wedges | p. 75 |
| A Hearth of Stone: The Hollinshead Fireplace | p. 81 |
| Stone in the Garden: A Walled Garden Door | p. 115 |
| Setting Stone for All Seasons: A Pathway | p. 133 |
| An Interview with Lew French: The Making of an Artist | p. 143 |
| Resources | p. 160 |
