Ane Freed-Kernis used her pension to build a workshop where she could create the tactile, surprising sculptures of her dreams.
Ane Freed-Kernis made the decision to construct a home workshop and dedicate all of her leisure time to stone carving in 2019 after retiring from her position as a social worker.
She describes it as “completely absorbing and really therapeutic.” “Even though I am completely covered in dust, I am content—it was something I needed more of in my life when I turned 60.”
Freed-Kernis’s early years are the source of this fascination. As a child, she would roam the fields on her father’s farm in Denmark, staring intently at the ground as she searched for new stones to add to her collection. The forms and textures of stones have always captivated her, she says.
Following her training as a social worker and relocation to England in 1977, Freed-Kernis was soon preoccupied with her demanding career and her son’s needs.
Prior to the death of her father in 2005, stones were the furthest thing from her mind. She explains, “I always thought it seemed so fun but never had the time to look into it myself. He took a stone carving course in his retirement.” “I was determined to learn in his honor after he passed away.”
Freed-Kernis enrolled in a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where she could watch Henry Moore’s enormous sculptures and learn how to transform a lump of rock into graceful, figurative shapes. The experience turned out to be both energizing and draining.
“At first, it was quite frightening because you would just hammer for hours on end. It seemed like I was going nowhere while the teacher was blowing off huge chunks, the student recalls.
“I am happy I persisted, though, because it is thrilling when you finally see the picture in your head coming to life through the stone.”
She used her son’s assistance to move the enormous salamander from the car into the garden of her Manchester home, where it still stands, as her first creation to come to life.
Later, in her spare time, she enrolled in additional stone-carving classes in the area, gradually assembling a collection of carved animals and abstract figures in addition to her own hammers and chisels.
