Remembering Mark Saxe

Mark Saxe was as good a friend to the stone cutters, carvers and fixers at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as there could be. He had a powerful belief that their unique work deserved recognition in a tangible form. To that end, he recruited me some six years ago to help. He coined the title Divine Stone for the project and the divinestone blog was created to showcase the research, let the men and women who worked on the Cathedral know that their story was emerging and would hopefully lead to a published manuscript. Since then, Mark and I have shared many a conversation about the work and the people in that “Dean Morton” stoneyard. I am working on that manuscript along with the many contributors to Divinestone. We have been blessed to team up with Robert F. Rodriguez as co-author providing his stories as well as his wonderful images.

Mark’s passing has brought forth many tributes from sculptors and artists and people who knew him. He was my friend for the last 19 years and my stone carving teacher for the last 10 years. I will miss so many things about him, nothing more so than the Sunday lunches we shared in his stone yard.

Mark was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Odessa, Ukraine. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and was honorably discharged in 1968. As a soldier, he had written poetry, but as a veteran he felt that words failed him. Wandering around Europe, it was the carved stone of the cathedrals and monuments that seemed to him a kind of medicine, calming and focusing his energy and imagination away from war and towards the miracle of creation. He went on to receive his MFA on the GI Bill from the Institute Allende in Mexico, followed by a three-year apprenticeship with a stonemason in Massachusetts, before setting up shop in Dixon, NM.

Mark established Southwest Stoneworks in 1979, specializing in architectural stonework and historic stone restoration. Over the decades, he earned a lasting reputation for exceptional work among architects, building contractors, and northern New Mexico’s rich mix of residents.

Mark told me that he traveled to several stone carving workshops around the country to learn more about the techniques of carving. On those trips, he met Kazutaka Uchida of Japan who had a profound impact on Mark. At a workshop in Vermont he met Fred X. Brownstein, who had studied extensively in Italy. Both of these sculptors became important to Mark’s future workshops, sharing their extensive knowledge, depth of thought, aesthetic sensibilities and friendship. When Mark returned from that Vermont trip the idea that he could bring these world-class instructors to his stone yard, put on a workshop, learn more himself and not have to travel took shape. In 2001, Mark realized a long-held dream in founding Sax Stone Carving Workshops. (Sax is Latin for stone.) The first guest instructor was Patrick Plunkett, stone carver at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. from 1975 to 1988, and was superintendent of stone restoration at the White House. Nicholas Fairplay and Joseph Kincannon, carvers from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, were frequent instructors. Always generous in sharing his knowledge and love of stone, Mark deepened and expanded the reach of his chosen field and attracted a devoted family of stone carvers. It was during the 25th Annual Stonecarving Workshop that Mark passed away peacefully at his home in nearby Ojo Sarco.

“It is said that there is no one who is not better off for having spent time in the presence of stone. With that as our guiding belief, we keep chipping away. Working with stone is never time wasted.”

– Mark Ian Saxe

In 2023, Mark received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, recognizing his profound impact on the community both as a sculptor and a teacher. As a sculptor, he found in stone a world where stories and emotions could unfold, a realm where the known and the mysterious could converge. Whether a 15-ton monolith of Washington State basalt or a few pounds of Indiana limestone, his pieces contain a quiet grandeur.

Always humble and humorous, he was interviewed about his work by videographer Christopher Roybal upon being notified of the Governor’s Award. In this short video, Mark sums up his approach to a lifetime of working with stone. Please CLICK HERE TO WATCH

While working on a project with Santa Fe architect, John Barton, Mark got a chance to visit the stoneyard at the Cathedral. Some years later, he wrote this essay for Divine Stone:

In His Own Words

“My connection to the stoneyard began in the late 1980’s when John Barton, AIA, the son-in-law of the Dean of the Cathedral, James Parks Morton, invited me to see the stone working program. I was offered a place to stay in the Bishop’s guest quarters and visited the stone shed attached to the Cathedral several times. 

“John introduced me to the cutters and carvers. I remember no names, only the intensity and dedication that showed in the faces. It was likely that I met Jose Tapia, Tim Smith and Eddie P. They were working…cutting and carving some of the thousands of stones necessary to complete the Cathedral’s towers. I wished I was one of them, but it was not to be, living in New Mexico with a stone masonry business that needed me and I needed it. However, my connection to the stoneyard has continued since that tour.

I would have traded places with any one of them

– Mark Saxe

“The light filtering down from the skylights, the fine dust of limestone in the air and the tap, tap, tap of hammer on chisel was mesmerizing. The vibe was intoxicating, especially to me who had already spent the last 13 years working with stone. I would have traded places with any of those carvers but I had a home and business to take care of. Upon leaving the Cathedral I had a feeling that we would meet again in the future. That experience had a profound effect on me and because of it I met many people who worked on the Cathedral, most notably Joseph Kincannon, Nick Fairplay, and John Barton. All of them have added to my life and work.” – Mark Saxe

Mark is survived by his wife, Betsy Willams, professional artist and ceramist. Betsy is the Co-Director of the Sax Stone Carving Workshops. Betsy plans on continuing Mark’s legacy and all he has established with the workshops. The website, Sax Stone Carving, will indicate dates and information for the 26th Annual Workshop when they are available.

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