Capitals, Gablets, Pinnacles and Label Stops – The Carving Program Begins is the story of the process that brought the many carved elements of the Southwest Tower to the Cathedral. (This is the first in a series of articles by photojournalist Robert F. Rodriguez about the carvings on the Southwest Tower.) The newly arrived Master Carver Nicholas Fairplay needed a spot in the Stoneyard to begin work on a series of label stop carvings. While his main job was instructing a select group of stone cutters in design, drawing, modeling, carving, technical drawing and theory, he also had to find a space to work.
Banker mason Joseph Kincannon recalls, “There wasn’t a carving shed yet. In fact, Nick had to busy himself moving stone around the yard at first. He did his (first) carving right near the planer. The cutting shed was too crowded.”
Nick, who apprenticed at Westminster Abbey, was recruited by Master Builder James Bambridge. One day when Bambridge was back in Dorset working on Cathedral drawings, he was driving in nearby Somerset. He saw some interesting stone carving activity and pulled off the road to see what was taking place. There he met a young Nick Fairplay. Nick was helping his friend, Master Carver Mel Morris Jones. Jones’ commission involved dolphins for the Naval College in Greenwich. This chance meeting lead to Nick Fairplay directing the carving at the Cathedral beginning in the fall of 1984.
Selecting the Carvers
Nick’s first order of business was assembling the team. Many of the Cathedral hierarchy had their “favorite” candidates to become carvers. “They all wanted different people,” Nick said. So he devised a simple plan, “I carved a crocket (as a model) and anyone interested in carving, carved one.” Not everyone in the cutting shed was interested in carving but the invitation was sent to all.
Nick assembled all those who carved a crocket. Dean Morton, Master Builder James Bambridge and others gathered to determine the best carvings. Neither the carvings nor the carvers were identified. Nick had them do a blind judging. “It was all fair,” he said.
By the spring of 1985 a carving shed was built along the Cathedral’s north wall. Nick moved in along with Ruben Gibson, Cynie Linton, Joseph Kincannon and D’Ellis “Jeep” Kincannon. Nick also had Angel Escobar do some carvings. Angel did not want to do carving full time but “I pulled him (in) a couple of times; he had a very natural ability,” Nick said.
The new carvers had their work cut out for them. St. Paul’s tower was rising and the decorative carved stones soon would need to be set in place. Stones requiring decorative or ornamental carving included capitals, gablets, crockets, label stops, pinnacles and finials.
The First Label Stops
Nick’s first label stop was a three-faced grotesque representing the Trinity. He said he drew inspiration from seeing various Trinity carvings on European churches. In all, 14 label stop carvings would be needed for the buttress gablets of the south tower.
A buttress gablet is a decorative triangular-shaped element on the tower corners. It is filled with crockets — small, projecting ornaments, usually set in rows, and decorated with foliage. It ends at the bottom with a label stop, which often shows a carved head.
According to Nick, “The main design problem with the label stops was that (James) Bambridge never thought they would be carved, so he designed the carving blocks small and to not project much.” As a result, “a lot of the label stops were very difficult — very difficult to have a design to cover the moulding – you had to fit on this very small block. (You have to be) Careful not to undercut.”
Another of Nick’s label stop carvings is probably one of the most bizarre and yet humorous carvings on the tower. It shows a grotesque seemingly devouring an infant. Nick recalls that it was supposed to represent the Cathedral eating the congregation.
The Training Process
Training was essential for the new carvers and Nick used a multi-stepped process. “I wanted everyone in the shop to have a workshop style,” Nick said.
“The way I trained people, everybody had to do a sketch and I’d have to approve,” he said. “I would have them make a model in clay and then I would have them carve it. Then the next one they did, I would have them do a sketch, make a model in clay, then smash the model up and then do the carving. Then, for the next one, I would have them do the sketch but not the (clay) model. So they would need to know what information they want from the sketch to do the carving. By the end, they could do a drawing and carve from the drawing.”
Cynie’s Label Stop – Start to Finish
A good example of the process is Cynthia “Cynie” Linton’s label stop carving of a pilgrim bound for Santiago de Campostela.
After graduating from Pratt Institute, Cynie received a grant to study in France and Spain where she drew inspiration from Romanesque church and cloister carvings.
One of her stops was Santiago de Campostela, a Christian pilgrimage site in northwestern Spain. Following her sketches, Cynie made a clay model of a pilgrim on his journey. Working with the clay model helps the carver visualize the depth and dimensions of the stone before carving. Working with clay is an additive process while carving the stone is a subtractive one.
She then consulted with Nick on any adjustments needed. Her carving showed a bearded pilgrim grasping a walking stick and wearing a hat with a scallop shell on it. The symbol of the scallop shell guided pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago, with the shell representing the way to the Cathedral. The scallop shell became a symbol of pilgrimage and a reminder of the power of faith.
Capitals
Teaching composition was essential, especially for carving the capitals, which rested below the quatrefoils and above the approximately 15-foot marble columns.
Ruben’s Unique Capital
When Ruben Gibson was stuck for an idea for carving a capital, Nick showed him a photo of a Medieval man and woman carved on a European cathedral. Nick only showed Ruben the photo one time so he would not copy it exactly.
Ruben took Nick’s suggestion and transformed it into a carving of two men of different races grasping each other’s arms. “Once you gave him the idea, he was good with it,” Nick said.
While the capitals and label stops were each uniquely designed creations, much of the carvers’ work was done on gablets, which were uniform carvings with a foliage design. For each pair of label stop carvings, 10 gablets would have to be carved.
After leaving the Cathedral Stoneyard Institute, Nick went on to numerous stone carving projects and established Fairplay Stonecarvers in Oberlin, Ohio. At 67, he has no intention of putting down the mallet and chisel.
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- Robert F. Rodriguez was an artist/photographer-in-residence at the Cathedral as these artworks were being created. He spent more than 10 years documenting all facets of the construction work. His working life includes photo editor at Gannett Newspapers for 38 years and The Daily Mail for ten.
One reply on “Capitals, Gablets, Pinnacles and Label Stops”
Another great posting. I was glad to see Joseph Kincannon in there, I took a workshop from him (thanks to Mark Saxe) and found him to be a great teacher as well as carver. If this picture works, here was Kincannon a decade or so ago. Whoops, no picture.