Set in stone
Stone carver Jane Turner has worked on some fascinating projects in Monmouthshire and beyond. She chats to MCL about her passion for working with stone...
I
am Jane Turner and I’m a stone carver. My work includes sculptures, commemorative plaques, head stones,
public commission and work in churches and historic buildings.
How long have you been a stone carver? I started training in 1999 and set up on my own in 2003. I did a stone masonry apprenticeship at the City of Bath College and a traditional one to one apprenticeship with a letter carver outside Oxford for a year. Before that I did a lot of teaching and
travelled doing TEFL and other work abroad. I did a history degree at Cardiff University and a masters in building conservation at Oxford Brookes – that’s what got me into stone masonry. Before all of that, when I was a teenager I was in a band and one of the other people in that band was a sculptor – I ended up marrying him so there was probably an interest then! I’m still in a band now – called Peel Your Own Spuds. We’re an Irish folk pop band
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and we play all over the area. You can catch us at the Biker Festival at the Hogs Head at Llanvetherine near Abergavenny in July if you’re interested!
What’s the most unusual piece you have worked on? When I was training I was involved in creating a memorial for Roald Dhal. I was also asked to replace a gargoyle at Brecon Cathedral which had been knocked off by a lorry – I didn’t use stone for that in case it was knocked off again! I’ve also done headstones for all sorts of pets, the most unusual of which was a donkey and I was asked to create a replica of a neolithic macehead about 8cm long. The original of it is in a museum in Dublin.
And your favourite piece? One is a public commission I did of a sitting human figure in Kilkenny limestone which is in the grounds of Malone House in Belfast, which is somewhere people go to get married. They have their photographs taken
next to the piece, which is called Loss. Some American ambassadors have also had their pictures taken next to it!
Tell us about some of your more interesting projects? There have been some interesting local ones. There was one project based on Lady Llanover in Swan meadow, Abergavenny. I did some monoliths for that in conjunction with Chepstow potter Ned Heywood. I did the wording on the monoliths in English and Welsh. The wording was all about the work Lady Llanover had done during her lifetime. She was a great supporter of the Welsh culture and the Welsh language.
What your favourite stone to work with? Different stones are good for different types of work. Slate is good for lettering. You can make the letters crisp and sharp and get a good contrast when you carve them. Most local sandstones are nice for carving and I like to use them because they are local to this area. Bath stone is also nice to carve
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