Some years ago, a story appeared in the New Yorker. It told of a boy, around nine at the time, who had not spoken a word. Some manner of developmental issue was assumed. His parents had taken to regularly playing a record for him. The recording was of bird songs followed by a narrator naming the bird and information about it. One day, walking in a wooded area, the boy stopped and pointed up in a tree and told his surprised dad the name of the bird who had just sung. This story inspired Chris Pellettieri to carve a narrative sculpture – The boy, the man and the bird.
Chris was an apprentice stone carver in the Cathedral stone yard working on the Southwest Tower. After that construction closed down he continued to carve stone and became an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral.
We caught up with Chris as he was finishing up a stone carving class on Governor’s Island. Students from Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School, located in Hell’s Kitchen, make up the class. The National Park Service is a partner with the school. It is a career and technical educational (CTE) school. Its goal is to prepare students for careers in fields like historic preservation, landscape management, archeology, masonry and carpentry. One of this class’ projects was a roman arch, carving the pieces from templates.
Chris told us the story of the origin of the red sandstone sculpture, about four feet tall and he spoke of his affinity for narrative carvings.
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- Watch Chris Pellettieri’s recent lecture at Columbia titled Carving Architecture and Careers with The Pellettieri Stone Carving Academy here