EDINBURGH.- This Thursday Edinburgh College of Art will host a public lecture at 4pm at which Head of Sculpture Professor Jake Harvey will announce the stone artists confirmed for Milestone, the largest stone carving exhibition ever hosted in Scotland, opening this August at the College.

The stone artists, from all over the world, will be present at the event where their work will be introduced.

Milestone is a unique arts event, where international sculptors will each carve a new sculpture in a 1-2 tonnes block of stone in the Art College quadrangle. This daily event is open to the public throughout the month of August and offers a rare opportunity to watch stone sculptors in the process of creating their work.

In addition to Milestone, visitors can learn more about stone-carving practices all over the world from the accompanying exhibition of films, photographs, interviews, tools, books and sculptor’s maquettes assembled under the banner STONE project: ‘A Legacy of Craftsmanship and Inspiration for Art’.

The exhibition charts the journey of the STONE project researchers who spent 16 months travelling the world investigating stone in its myriad forms. Encompassing practices from India, China, Brazil and Japan, the exhibits tell the story of stone and the people that work it - from the quarrying of the earth to the craft skills of artisans and toolmakers and the creative output of sculptors.

The stone sculptors participating in Milestone are:

Joel Fisher, USA
Takeshi Hayashi, Japan
Jake Harvey, Scotland
Carlos Lizariturry Moro, Croatia
Gerard Mas, Spain
Atsuo Okamoto, Japan
Peter Randall-Page, England
Sibylle Pasche, Switzerland
Daniel Silver, Israel
Susanne Specht, Germany

(the group will also include Jessica Harrison, Scotland, working as STONE project’s dedicated PhD student)

Milestone sculptors were selected because they are responsive to ways that sculpture can relate to the human body, and in consideration of the ways in which the material presence of their work shares its tactility with the viewer. It is envisioned that collectively, these works will be able to create a sufficiently dynamic energy that can contribute a renewed vitality to the use of stone in contemporary art practice.