Portrait in Stone: An Introduction to the Machinetta in Stone Carving with Fred X Brownstein

Fred X Brownstein creates contemporary figurative sculpture in marble and bronze.  A Tennessee native, Brownstein attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1970 from the San Francisco Art Institute.  

In 1971, Brownstein was an Artist-in-Residence at the Karolyi Foundation in Vence, France, where he began carving marble and exhibiting sculpture. With his wife, he moved to Italy and lived there for sixteen years, until 1991. While abroad, Brownstein worked for eight months at Henraux in Querceta and was then accepted as an apprentice to the sculpture studio of Enzo Pasquini, where he trained for four years. Between 1980 and 1984, Brownstein studied figure drawing with the Signorina Nerina Simi in Florence, Italy.

Upon his return to the U.S., Brownstein exhibited with the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York between 1986 and 1992.  Since 1985, he has completed 12 public sculpture commissions and his work is included in private collections in Italy, Canada, and the U.S.  He has won awards from the National Sculpture Society and the Salmagundi Club in New York, as well as from two national competitions for public sculpture.  

Brownstein served as an adjunct professor at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Connecticut and has lectured at many U.S. colleges and museums, including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Alfred University, New York; Middlebury College, Vermont; and at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and Williams College, all in Massachusetts. He is a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society and a professional member of the Stone Carvers Guild. Brownstein currently resides in Vermont.

For more information, please visit: fredxbrownstein.com/about

Limestone

• Each student will be provided with a limestone block as part of the workshop registration fee.
• The limestone block will measure 12 × 10 × 8 inches.
• Limestone is easier to carve than marble, allowing us to focus on mastering the machinetta technique.

Stone Carving Tools

• The tools required for carving limestone and marble are the same, and each participant should bring their own set of stone carving tools.
• If you own a machinetta, we recommend bringing it to the workshop. For those who don’t have one, they will be available as needed.

NOTE: Participants should purchase tools in advance. Supplies and materials are available in de Gerenday’s Fine Art Materials and Curiosities, Lyme Academy’s on-campus school art store. 

Questions? Contact Cameron Paynter in the school store, cameron@lymeacademy.edu

Registration and Enrollment Information

Registration and enrollment for workshops operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Full Payment Required:
  Registration must be paid in full at enrollment to secure a spot in the workshop. Registrants without payment or payment arrangements will not be on the roster.
• Payment Plan Option:
  If you would like to arrange a payment plan, please email caitlin@lymeacademy.edu for more information and assistance in setting one up.

Workshop Refund Policy

Please review the following refund policy for workshops.

1. 72-Hour Grace Period:
   Students may request a full refund for workshop registrations within 72 hours of signing up, provided that the workshop has not yet started. The refund request must be made within this 72-hour period for consideration.
2. Non-Refundable Credit Card Fee:
   A 3.5% processing fee will be added to credit card payments. This processing fee is non-refundable.
3. After the Grace Period:
   After the 72-hour grace period, no refunds will be issued for workshop registrations under any circumstances.

We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to contact us promptly if you have any questions or concerns regarding your registration.

Questions? 860-434-5232 ext. 202

Terms, Conditions and Policies

This workshop provides an introduction to the Italian machinetta, or pointing machine, which was invented in the late 1700s and refined in the 1800s into the instrument sculptors use today. It is the traditional method for transferring measurements from a plaster model to marble.

The machinetta allows sculptors to create concepts in clay and accurately reproduce them in stone at a one-to-one ratio, ensuring the final sculpture is the same size as the model. While marble sculpture is traditionally shaped by eye and hand, the machinetta helps transfer measurements point by point from the model to the marble, serving as a guide for the sculptor.

In this workshop, we will learn how to set up the crosspiece and establish the three principal points necessary to use the machinetta effectively. We will also practice the correct method for each phase of the process, from roughing out the stone to accurately transferring the final points from the model.

Each participant should bring or select a mask (face) as a model to be copied. The mask should measure approximately 8–9 inches in height, 9–10 inches across, and 6 inches in depth, providing a life-sized head in height and width, with enough depth—from the nose to the ear—to create a high-relief sculpture. The model should feature general forms and large planes rather than fine details, as we will be working with limestone.

Each student will be provided with a block of stone as part of the registration fee. Our blocks of stone will measure 12 × 10 × 8 inches. Limestone is easier to carve than marble, allowing us to focus on mastering the machinetta technique. The tools required for carving limestone and marble are the same, and each participant should bring their own set of stone carving tools. We will provide as many machinettas as possible for those who do not already have one, or we will have them available for purchase in the Academy art store.