We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gary Taber a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I am self taught as a stone sculptor, using tips learnt from videos and print. Taking some classes and learning the different attributes of stone varieties would have definitely sped up the learning curve, but I am very happy with my progress I’ve made especially with moving on to other materials. Manipulating the tools of the trade is by far the most essential skill. Finding the most comfortable way to hold each tool and the pressure required to achieve the desired results is very important.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After leaving high school in England my intention was to become a silversmith but had to wait a year before attending art school in London. I had a background working at our family butcher shops so I continued to do that while waiting to attend art school, but unfortunately I made the decision to continue working and give up my space at school. Even after moving to California and starting a family I stayed in the same business until I had a health scare and retired early. This gave me the opportunity to get back into the arts. Deciding I liked the textures and colors of stone I set up a workshop and forged ahead. I think that my many years of using hand tools has been the biggest help for my craft creating small sculptures that are not commonly available. I keep things simple, trying to just make a suggestion of of movement is all it takes sometimes and leaving exposed some of the natural fissures and textures can give each piece special character. My new works with ceramics have been quite successful and I will continue to mix other materials like steel, wood and coral into various pieces.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Texture for me is one of the most important parts of art. Even if you can’t touch it the effects of light and shadow enhance the character of a piece. This extends into paintings as well. The thickness of the paint can change the way you view a picture. NFTs for me don’t supply that. It seems that the investment potential has become the the focus to own them and not the pleasure of viewing them.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Definitely, my cancer diagnoses has been the biggest change in direction I have had to make. I had already been trying my hand at carving stone before that and didn’t think it would go too far, but after recovery I had a new focus and wanted to really immerse myself in the craft.

Contact Info:

• Website: mysculpturestudio.com
• Instagram: @thewestcliffguild
• Facebook: @thewestcliffguild

Image Credits
Gary Taber