Mission Statement
Rutland is distinguished by its long marble history. The intention of The Karving Workshop is to introduce Rutland children and adults to its marble carving heritage. Many people living in Rutland are descendants of immigrants who worked in the marble quarries, marble mills, carving sheds and railroads. The Karving Workshop will be an effort to provide these individuals and other interested citizens a safe direct tactile carving experience with basic stone carving hand tools. We will make this experience available to children and adults at affordable rates for anyone wanting to carve marble. A local workshop for kids and adults will provide direct access to a shared heritage and an opportunity for some great carvers to discover themselves!
With the emigration of manufacturing jobs overseas and the growing problem of drug abuse and dependence, many kids lack for stable families. Both children and adults have been deprived of using a worker’s natural intelligence of hand/eye/body coordinated activity. Children and adults will be taught the focused hand/eye/body skills to create one’s own permanent personal creative expression. Marble can be found everywhere. It will be carved once individuals know how. Participants will be able to give tangible expression to latent talents.
We will work toward creating a commercial outlet for resident’s stone carvings and we will place carvings of local kids and adults in parks and byways of Rutland. Rutland will be a destination point to see a resurgence of stone carving by the industry’s descendants and citizens. The Karving Workshop will encourage visiting THE CARVING STUDIO at the historical Vermont Marble Company site, and provide an introduction to other local industries involved with our marble heritage.
Nick Santoro , February 2017