Arnold has been carving stone since 1989. Trained in Ottawa, Vermont and Italy, she uses Italian pneumatic carving techniques to form her work. She has exhibited in group and solo shows in Ottawa, Kingston and Kanata, and recent commissions are installed in Ontario, Ohio, California & British Columbia. She reveals an endearing optimism when she tells me, “The biggest opportunity of my life, so far, is coming up this September when the prestigious Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa is presenting my works in a solo exhibition.” As a new fan, I wonder what her next biggest opportunity will be.

Casting the First Stone

From eurythmics at age three, Deborah pursued her love of dance through high school and onward at Bennington College in Vermont. While studying one summer with the Martha Graham Junior Company at Connecticut College, she became intrigued with the world of theatre. She transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, later returning to her birthplace to do Masters study in theatre at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Arnold moved to Canada 21 years ago, raised a family, and worked with a volunteer arts organization.

Her life took an abrupt right-angle turn in 1989 when she saw photographs of the stone sculptures of world-renowned sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi. As she describes it, looking at Noguchi’s sculptures was “the great ‘Ah-hah!’” of her life. Coincidentally, Noguchi had designed many sets for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Deborah enrolled at the Ottawa School of Art, and the minute she stepped inside the sculpture studio she knew she had found her calling. She completed her Fine Arts Diploma in 1993 and was sculpting at OSA when Almonte’s Stephen Brathwaite convinced her to share a studio with himself and three other artists (Sue Adams, Krystyna Chelminska and Jennifer Ryder-Jones) at the Victoria Woollen Mill.

Arnold travelled to Italy in 1995, ‘97 and ‘99 to study Italian stone carving techniques. She embraces the Italian philosophy of “direct carving” where you work with the stone, following the natural forms within the material. She is endlessly fascinated by the astonishing colours, veinings and configurations of the different rock formations she carves, and is keenly aware of the formation processes that brought them forth from the earth. Deborah looks for the presence in each piece that conveys an emotional impact, allowing each stone to reveal its own story. “My sculptures are messengers of our connection to the earth.” With an aesthetic informed by her dance training, she creates wonderful pieces that evoke the intangible qualities of human body forms and movements, human marks, and human intrusions.

Deborah Arnold started teaching one-on-one stone sculpture classes in Almonte in 1998. She loves teaching because “the students are so enthusiastic and expectant”. So is Deborah. “I’ve always been one to follow my heart. I don’t do this to pay the bills — it’s a passion that I have to satisfy.” In a wonderful instance of artistic serendipity, one of her workshops served as the catalyst for the development of the Thoburn Mill into the vibrant arts venue it has become when student and businessman Al Potvin got talking to artist and developer Stephen Brathwaite.

Arnold reduces some of the physical work of stone carving by using pneumatic hammers. Their rapid-fire action saves time, and different sizes of hammers and varying shapes of chisel attachments make the tools useful for roughing out and for finer detail work. Deborah is a member of the Sculptors Society of Canada, the National Capital Network of Sculptors and the International Sculptors Center. Her recent design projects include residential decorative iron work and moulded concrete garden benches, and she welcomes you to drop in at her Millrace Studio at Thoburn Mill (83 Little Bridge St., Almonte, 256-9306) or to email her.

Bronze Dances with Stones

For her upcoming solo exhibition at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Deborah has been working with artist Dale Dunning at his bronze “Lost and Foundry” near Almonte. Her exciting show is titled “Glyphs of Nature” and comprises twenty major sculptures, three of which incorporate bronze elements. Arnold’s interest in bronze casting was triggered when one of her stone sculpture on display outside the Thoburn Mill was broken into three segments. She cast the fragments in bronze and became intrigued with the possibilities of this labour-intensive medium.

The combined efforts of other members of the Almonte artistic scene will also be represented at Arnold’s show; John Branje of Branje Metal Works has an uncanny ability to execute Deborah’s design concepts for metal bases, and Bill Fulton creates her wooden bases. Glass artist Ryan Lotecki, in Almonte on a Manitoba Arts Council grant, assists Deborah in the studio by stone carving and finishing, and works with her at the foundry. And while I was interviewing her, not only was she assisting photographers from the McLaughlin Gallery, she was instructing one of her students in the Italian techniques of sanding and polishing.

From Sept. 24 to Nov. 12 the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Civic Centre, 72 Queen St., Oshawa, 905-576-3000), offers a superb setting in which to experience this passionate sculptor’s body of work. Locally her works are represented at the Mill Street Gallery, 79 Mill St., Almonte, 256-4007. We suggest you clip and save the Artist Trading Card at the top of the page for future reference or visit her website.