Materially Speaking

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Kevin talks about his childhood in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, and how the experience of his teenage years coloured his life. He opens up about how his work explores family relationships - sons, fathers and toxic masculinity.
He studied at art school in Dublin and Chicago, before doing a masters at Goldsmiths in London. During art school his work became more sculptural until, soon after graduating, he shifted from painting to sculpture.
When he arrived in Pietrasanta he began by creating traditional classical sculptures with a contemporary twist. However soon he wanted to create something more personal and developed his own abstract, contemporary style of sculpture. He enjoys challenging the stone to do different things.

His Family Series is a very personal look at his role as a father, husband and man. Son Dancing was inspired by a glimpse of one of his sons dancing freely, unaware of his body, and wearing his mother’s high-heeled shoes.

In his studio we see a series called Fragile Heads which are portraits, but very flawed and damaged. This emotionally rich series arose from portraits he created of men he’d seen in passing. He sculpted them roughly, and energetically, and by leaving water inside the clay before firing ensured that the finished pieces cracked and evoked the fragility and tenderness of men.

A large piece which caught my attention in his studio was Striding Youth. Kevin explained that his idea in this piece was to use gesture to indicate the confidence of youth, walking out of the block of stone.

Currently, Kevin is working on a series called Ten Heroes. These are abstract portraits, this time of his lifelong heroes, and we had the chance to see some of them come alive in his studio. So far, this series includes Barbara Hepworth, Samuel Beckett, Charles Mingus and Bobby Sands.

Kevin likes his plinths to be an extension of the sculptures themselves. They highlight the works in a way that simple white boxes can’t. He uses many types of contemporary materials for his plinths, especially to complement marble sculptures, which might be freighted by the history of the stone.

Kevin and his wife, Tara, founded Marble Projects to give back to the artist community. As well as offering young local, or international, artists the chance to use cutting edge technology for affordable prices, he helps young artists with a space to work and the chance to learn from the artists in his studio. Pietrasanta has been kind to him, he says, and this is his way of giving back.

Links
kevinfrancisgray.com
instagram.com/kevinfrancisgraystudio
marbleprojects.com

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Yemisi currently lives in Stockholm but has worked in Pietrasanta since 1999. She lived here for 15 years and creates in marble, granite and bronze.
Yemisi's love of animals started at a young age and they are a frequent theme in her work. Yemisi had four aquariums in her room as a child, and tells us why she finds the animals’ anatomy so fascinating.
She studied the anatomy of elephants, hippos and rhinoceros in depth and finds in them a testament to ancient times.
This interest really comes to life in the foundry, where we watch the final patinas being applied to her series of hippos, each piece brought to life through a distinct choice of colours.
Yemisi talks through the process from when she brings her models into the foundry and explains the lost wax process.
She also shows us her current series of female torsos and tells us about her grandmothers, and her passion for depicting strong independent women in her sculptures.
Yemisi works with a range of stones including marble, Swedish granite, Indian granite, Swedish porphyry and Spanish alabaster, and explains how each of them needs different tools.
Recently, she completed a public commission at Bleket bathing place in Tjörn, Sweden, carving directly into the existing granite. She reveals to us how she approached working with this community in another part of Sweden from her own, and giving them something memorable which also blended into their environment.
Yemisi was attracted to the challenge of drawing monkeys when she saw how fast they moved. She created a series with a new angle on the old fable of the three monkeys, reversing the original moral this time to encourage listening, talking and expressing. She hopes that listening and speaking out can help resolve modern day issues in society.
For this episode we met Yemisi at Fonderia Artistica Versiliese , founded in 1975 in the centre of Pietrasanta. This family-owned foundry is now run by the three brothers Tiberio, Franco and Gabriele Lucarini.
Links
yemisiwilson.com
instagram.com/yemisiwilson

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Questa settimana incontriamo Franco Casoni, maestro intagliatore del legno, per scoprire come realizza le polene, ovvero le figure di prua delle navi.
This week we are meeting Franco Casoni, a master wood carver, to find out how he creates ships’ figureheads — known as 'polene'.

Per questa puntata ci siamo recati a Chiavari, in Liguria, a breve distanza in auto lungo la costa da Pietrasanta e dalle cave di marmo di Carrara. Qui, tra la costa rocciosa e le colline ricoperte da fitti boschi, il materiale locale è il legno.
For this episode we travelled to Chiavari, Liguria, a short drive up the coast from Pietrasanta and the marble quarries of Carrara. Here, between rocky coastline and dense forested hillsides, the local material is wood.

All'interno del suo laboratorio, Franco ci mostra una scarpa di ottima fattura e ci spiega che suo padre era un calzolaio. Aggiunge che, quando era giovane, era consuetudine fare l'apprendista presso il padre di qualcun altro, per evitare di litigare troppo con il proprio.
Inside Franco’s workshop, he shows us a beautifully crafted shoe and explains that his father was a shoemaker. He adds that, when he was young, it was traditional to apprentice under someone else’s father, to avoid arguing too much with your own.

Franco racconta la storia delle polene, spiegando come, al di là della loro funzione decorativa, un tempo si credesse che possedessero proprietà mistiche. Racconta inoltre come è arrivato a scolpirle, oltre a parlare dei tipi di legno e degli strumenti che utilizza nel suo lavoro.
Franco shares the history of figureheads (‘polene’ in Italian), explaining how, beyond their decorative role, they were once believed to hold mystical properties. He also reflects on how he came to carve them, as well as the types of wood and tools he uses in his work.

Franco parla di alcune delle superstizioni legate alle polene e racconta come Pablo Neruda, il celebre poeta cileno, abbia iniziato la sua collezione di fama mondiale di polene di navi del XIX secolo. Queste polene sono riemerse dai relitti affondati nel mare insidioso vicino alla sua casa in Cile e sono esposte nella casa-museo Isla Negra. Isla Negra Museum house
Franco discusses some of the superstitions around polene, and tells how Pablo Neruda, the renowned Chilean poet, came to start his world-famous collection of 19th century ships’ figureheads. These figureheads floated up from shipwrecks that sank in the perilous sea near his home in Chile, and can be seen at the house museum Isla Negra Museum house

Franco è noto anche per la realizzazione degli stampi utilizzati per preparare i corzetti, un tipo di pasta tradizionale ligure a forma di moneta che risale al Medioevo. Ci racconta come realizza questi intricati stampi e ci svela i suoi segreti per preparare il sugo. 
Franco is also known for carving the stamps used to make corzetti pasta — a traditional Ligurian, coin-shaped pasta dating back to the Middle Ages. He tells how he carves the intricate stamps and gives us his recipe tips for the sauce. 

Se vuoi vedere un bel video su Franco e sua moglie Alexandra mentre preparano i corzetti, clicca su “Play” qui sotto!
If you want to see a cool video about Franco and his wife Alexandra making corzetti, click play below!

Questo episodio continua anche il nostro desiderio di produrre un episodio per stagione in italiano.
This episode is in keeping with our desire to produce one episode per season in Italian. 

instagram.com/franco_casoni_intagliatore

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Widely recognised as the inventor of organic cubism, Pollès has created his own private laboratory for the creation of his singular sculptures.

In this episode, we invite you to watch a special video interview with Pollès and enjoy a rare glimpse inside his home and workshops.
Watch on YouTube: The World of Pollès

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Ko Yamazaki was born in Japan but at 17 he went to Paris to study before finding his second home in Italy, working with marble.
Today Mike Axinn and I are back in Studio Pescarella, on the outskirts of Pietrasanta to chat with Ko Yamazaki. Originally from Kyoto, Japan, Ko has been coming to carve in Pietrasanta, Italy, since 1992. We find him working in the sunlight, polishing marble in his outside workspace under a hot tin roof. On his cavalletti are some rounded Yin and Yang forms which he is polishing.
Born the child of teachers, Ko’s mother was an activist and supported many causes. At the age of 10, he was surprised to find that the summer camp he was sent away on, was for communists. This encouraged him to reflect on the impact of politics from a very young age. Ko’s early life was moulded by a rich blend of activism, creativity, and a sense of independence; he often spent time with his grandmother while his parents worked.
At 17, Ko left Japan for Paris and, although young, he was accepted at the Sorbonne to study art. Initially drawn to painting, he soon realized he didn’t enjoy the solitary nature of painting.
His father suggested he try Pietrasanta, a town renowned for its marble and artistic community. First Ko stayed with his father in his workspace, and took odd jobs helping out at the foundry and delivery jobs for the galleries.
Ko was captivated by the energy and possibilities of working with stone, and decided to stay. He describes his first attempts at sculpture, including carving his own hand in marble, an artwork that was stolen. Established artists, and artisans, helped him shape his learning, and develop his approach in conceptual art.
He works in wood while he is in Kyoto and stone when in Pietrasanta. He divides his working life between the two. He also sometimes creates in clay and plaster.
An avid reader, Ko has always been influenced by his Japanese heritage of the creation of paper.

Ko tells how he came to carve a black cardboard box in marble. He was pondering on how people often have that final cardboard box after they’ve moved house, which sits in a room, unopened. He always wonders why the owner never just opens it and empties it out. Ko wanted to create this box in the heavy material of marble to reflect the emotional weight of unopened boxes, and likes the contrast displayed by carving a paper object in stone.
Ko’s Japanese heritage inspired his fascination with transforming hard stone into forms that resemble delicate paper or books. He expresses a desire to preserve the tactile and cultural experience of reading and writing, which he feels is fading in the digital age.  An avid reader Ko created a series on books.
He works in wood while he is in Kyoto and stone when in Pietrasanta. He divides his working life between the two.
koyamazaki.com
instagram.com/ko.yamazaki