CARVING PUERTO VALLARTA

Seven Days, One Stone, and a New Sculpture Begins

On August 21, T Barny arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, ready for a different kind of studio experience. The plan was simple: choose a stone, spend a week carving at Manuel Palos Studio, and see where the stone would take him.

Our first impression? It was hot. Really hot. But tucked into the hillside above Puerto Vallarta, the studio and adjoining guest house were lovely, with open-air workspaces, tropical plants, sculptures everywhere, and views stretching out toward the Bay of Banderas.

Manuel Palos Studio is the kind of place where a sculptor can immediately feel at home. Stone and sculpture fill the terraces, workspaces spill from indoors to outdoors, and Puerto Vallarta and the Pacific are always just beyond the studio walls.

It didn't take Barny long to settle in.

First came the most important decision of the week: the stone.

Barny selected a 156-pound block of Mexican Onyx, filled with pink, cream, rust and touches of yellow. As with his work at home in Healdsburg, there was no model dictating what it should become. Barny began with the stone itself, responding to its shape, color and character as he worked.

Then the carving began.

For the next seven days, Barny worked at least six hours a day, cutting, grinding and carving away material as the new form gradually emerged.

And he removed a LOT of stone.

By the end of the week, that original 156-pound block weighed only about 44 pounds.

What remained was an open, flowing form that revealed colors, veining and patterns within the stone that were barely imaginable when he first selected the block.

And, it has a classic T Barny mobius edge!

Two Sculptors, One Studio

The experience was about much more than making a sculpture.

Manuel and his daughter could not have been more welcoming. They opened their studio and guest house to us and made us feel at home from the moment we arrived.

For Barny, working in another sculptor's studio was also an opportunity to share ideas, compare approaches and enjoy the camaraderie that happens when artists work alongside one another.

There was plenty of stone dust, noise, tools, masks and laughter along the way.

Life Beyond the Stone

We stayed at the guest house adjoining the studio, which meant Barny could practically walk out the door and start carving.

We ate breakfast and lunch at the Casa each day. Then, after six or more hours of carving, it was time to put down the tools, clean off the stone dust and head out for dinner.

Those evenings, and the friendships that developed during them, became as much a part of the Puerto Vallarta experience as the hours spent carving.

After seven days, Barny's Mexican Onyx had traveled a remarkable distance without ever leaving the studio:

Now the sculpture is making another journey.

It's headed north to T Barny's studio in Healdsburg, where Barny will continue carving, refining and polishing the piece.

So what began with a block of Mexican Onyx in Puerto Vallarta isn't quite finished.

Neither is the story.

Stay tuned.