GRANITE CARVERS DESCEND ON STANSTEAD

Matthew Farfan The week-long International Sculpture Symposium kicked off this weekend in Stanstead, a town known as the "Granite Capital of Canada."

Organized by the newly inaugurated Granite Exhibit & Museum of Stanstead (GEMS), the Symposium has attracted nine sculptors from both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. The sculptors will be carving their works on-site out of solid blocks of locally quarried granite.

The public will have a chance to vote for their favourite work of art, and ballots are available at the museum. The public prize, to be awarded next Saturday, is worth $500.

Participating artists include (back row, left to right): Sylvain Potvin; André Belle-Isle; Amélie Pomerleau; Mathias Péloquin; Lise B. Tétreault; Shannon Cooney; Georges Kurjanowicz; and front row, left to right): Alan Frascoia; and Domenico Antonio Di Guglielmo.

A six-member jury, composed of experts from art-related fields, has been selected to award a jury prize. This award, also to be handed out next Saturday, is worth $1000.

Jury members include (left to right): Wolfgang Nitshe; Sandra Donaldson; Kate Reed; Christian Knudson; Josiane Caillet; and Irene Whittome.

For more on the Granite Symposium, click here!