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Divine Stone

The String Course: East Face

A NEWBY STONECARVER’S FIRST CARVING SHINES ON THE EAST FACE


The bright morning sun fully illuminates an array of cornice carvings on the east face of St. Paul’s tower. 

String course east face
This is a closeup view of the cornice course and other architectural details on the tower’s east face, on January 22, 2024.

On the far left of the gallery is a fierce-looking dragon, unlike the shy dragon residing on the north face. Whereas the latter appears docile and gentle, the flying reptile on this wall could almost be a miniature Targaryen dragon from Games of Thrones.

Acting as a bookend to the angry dragon, on the far right side of the line of carvings, is a block very different in style to almost all the other string course carvings. The identity of the carver remains unclear.

String Course Sandwich man
A cornice stone showing a man with a flat top hairdo eating a sandwich is seen in situ on the east side of the tower on July 26, 1988. The carver is unknown.

It shows a man nonchalantly eating a sandwich. The chisel marks are rough, almost unfinished in some areas, a marked contrast to the highly defined and smooth carvings surrounding him.

There are some interesting backstories to the stones attributed to specific carvers.

Ruben Gibson
Ruben Gibson draws an audience of day camp children while he works on a foliage design for a corner cornice stone in August, 1986.

In August, 1986, almost two years before the string course was set, Ruben Gibson was working  on a corner cornice stone which has carvings on two sides. The tranquilty of the carving shed was suddenly shattered by a group of young day campers who were visiting the Stoneyard. Peering through the low open windows, the youngsters were quickly mesmerized by Ruben’s work and gazed intently as he continued carving the sinewy leaves in a foliage design.

Angel Escobar carving gnome
Angel Escobar carves a flower gnome face surrounded by petals on a cornice stone in May, 1988.

Angel Escobar contributed a sweet carving of a flower nymph emerging from a flower, its slanted eyes and broad nose poking out from the surrounding petals. Angel was a high school dropout who says his life had been “saved” by the Stoneyard program. He completed his four-year apprenticeship and worked both in the cutting and carving sheds, where he liked to create fantastic creatures. 

String Course, East Face, Gnome
This is a view of part of the cornice course on the east elevation after setting in August, 1988. Angel Escobar carved the floral gnome on the far right.

A carving by Nicholas Fairplay shows an unusual creature using his one giant foot to shade his face. Monopods are mythological beings with a single, large foot extending from a leg centered in the middle of their bodies. The Greeks called them “shade-footed ones” because when it was hot they would lie on their backs on the ground and seek shade under the great size of their foot.

String Coiurse Giant Foot
This carving by Nicholas Fairplay of a creature using his one giant foot to shade his face is photographed Nov. 11, 1986.

Nicholas worked at Westminster Abbey and came to the Cathedral as Head Carver to teach carving to the most promising cutters in the apprentice program.

Several years earlier D’Ellis “Jeep” Kincannon carved a Green Man for a buttress gablet label stop. The Green Man is an ancient mythological character adopted by Gothic stone carvers and seen in churches and cathedrals all over Europe. In Celtic mythology, the Green Man represents the lord of the forest and the patron of animals and fertility. He is mainly a symbol of untamed nature.

Setting Green Woman
Edgar Reyes, left, checks the alignment on the green woman cornice stone carved by Jessica Aujero, far right, and set on the east face in August, 1988.

For the string course Jessica Aujero Lowrie, newly arrived to the Cathedral carving program, set out not only to carve a “Green Woman” but also to make it a self-portrait. Jessica recently confided this was her first carving at the Stoneyard. After extensive research and numerous sketches, she worked on her clay model.

Jessica Aujero modeling in clay
Jessica Aujero begins to shape her clay model for a Green Woman carving — a medieval forest spirit — for a cornice stone on April 21, 1988.

So, when she tentatively started to carve, she kept a mirror nearby for reference.

Jessica carving green woman
Jessica Aujero carves a Green Woman, a medieval forest spirit, on a cornice stone in May, 1988. She turned the carving into a self portrait, keeping a mirror above the stone to accurately carve her features onto the stone.

But, not content with that, she also kept her clay model behind the mirror. And, to be extra sure of capturing her image properly, she added the sketch behind the clay model behind the mirror behind the carving.

Jessica with stone, clay model and sketch for green man
Jessica Aujero carves a Green Woman on a cornice stone in May, 1988. She turned the carving into a self portrait. Behind the mirror is her working clay model and above that her preliminary sketches.

She got it!

Carvings across the east façade string course, left to right: 

  • Carvings across the east façade string course, left to right: 
  • – NW corner, foliage by Joseph Kincannon
  • – Dragon with head down, carver unknown
  • – Foliage
  • – Foliage
  • – Foliage
  • – Foliage
  • – Long tailed creature by Joseph Kincannon
  • – Forest gnome by Angel Escobar
  • – Foliage by Nicholas Fairplay
  • – Monopod creature by Nicholas Fairplay
  • – Green Woman by Jessica Aujero Lowrie
  • – Sandwich guy, carver unknown
  • – NE corner, foliage by Ruben Gibson

All images are those of Robert F. Rodriguez, photojournalist and artist-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.

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