5 sculptors at Crémer à Fratin,
The first symposium of sculptures holds all its promises. To discover.
Since Thursday, August 10, the decor of the marbles Cremer à Fratin (Étalle) is modified with the presence of five stone sculptors who come to unveil their talent. As soon as one crosses the entrance of the courtyard, a vast cloud of dust emanates from one of the hangars of the company. We hear hammer blows interspersed with the noise of discus, and here and there voices rise. Five artists from Belgium and Portugal are working hard. They have fifteen days to turn their block of stone into a work of art.
The site is not occupied solely by the work of stone. Next to it, under an arbor, an exhibition of the works of the five artists takes place.
Manual sculpture is an art
On the first day, each artist presented his preliminary draft. Faced with his block of stone, the artist decides whether to follow his project. A kind of dialogue is formed with the stone. The artist can feel called by a completely different creation. "We must approach the event and respect the theme of living together. Through the work, it is necessary that each one can feel considered, that appears a moment of peace with human dimension. You have to set aside the competition even if it's still a competition, "explains Marc de Winter, a participating sculptor and spokesperson for the symposium. It is a human adventure before anything opposing two veterans for three neophytes.
Concerning the choice of the stone, the sculptors are facing two materials and have to cut. The white stone of Italian origin and the blue stone of Hainaut. The first is more tender, while the second is harder. To each one its tooling and its technique. "Difficult to say what is the easiest. We know that the blue stone gives effects depending on how it was cut, "says Étienne Crémer, patron of the marble factory.
To carry out this event, each candidate has moved with his equipment, while the marble factory makes available to them halls, machines and handling.
On the spot, the agreement between the artists and the staff of the Cremer marble factory is very convivial. This symposium animates the site and the clients of passage are interested in the work of the sculptors. "This activity takes us out of our daily lives, because daily we receive sad people following the dea
