Slate of Hand

World famous and award-winning artists have selected nonglamorous slate for sculpture, jewelry, land art, or bas relief. What properties of slate made them choose this stone, usually thought of as flat, black, and dull? Our book profiles the artists who use slate and examines their artistic choices. By doing so, we provide the reader with insight into the creative process, as well as slate's artistic potential. Artists respond to the textures and colors of this metamorphic stone and...
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World famous and award-winning artists have selected nonglamorous slate for sculpture, jewelry, land art, or bas relief. What properties of slate made them choose this stone, usually thought of as flat, black, and dull? Our book profiles the artists who use slate and examines their artistic choices. By doing so, we provide the reader with insight into the creative process, as well as slate's artistic potential. Artists respond to the textures and colors of this metamorphic stone and use slate in a notable array of art forms. Slate of Hand: Stone for Fine Art & Folk Art begins with an overview of folk art created by quarrymen and craftsmen, then focuses on the fine arts. Chapters introduce approximately 50 artists: painters, jewelers, relief carvers, land artists, sculptors, and photographers. Several are internationally acclaimed, such as land artists Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy. We have researched world-renowned sculptors Barbara Hepworth and Isamu Noguchi and received assistance from their respective museums in St. Ives, Cornwall and New York City. Slate of Hand is based on interviews with artists from Wales, England, Scotland, the United States, and Canada. Each artist has found slate's inherent qualities well worth the challenges of the medium. Chapters may be read sequentially or selected according to readers' interest in the artists or the art forms.