Heart of Stone - Creating a permanent tribute to love

‘Reel’ - A garden sculpture for Glenburn Hall

Few of us can pass a well-maintained dry-stone wall without issuing a sigh of admiration. The layering of differing shapes and weights, to create a blended whole, is a beautiful thing. And most of us know our attempt at similar would last a few days, if not minutes. So, to collaborate with a stone sculptor who learnt his art as a ‘Dyker’ was truly inspiring.

Max Nowell is based in Dumfries, Southwest Scotland. As the son of two amateur artists, his early drawings and models showed creative promise. But it was to the rural landscape that Max was continually drawn and along the way, he became an expert fly fisherman, bird watcher and plant grower.  

The Making of an Artist

In 1980, at the age of 27, Max realised he loved working with stone and, that stone seemed to love him back. A short dry-stone walling course proved he had an immediate understanding of the language of stones and following that first experience, Max spent almost two decades honing his wall-building skills. Since then, he has gone on to work closely with high-profile landscape artists and designers and has become a highly respected sculptor with a beautiful portfolio of work.

With a hammer, chisel and his hands (plus occasional power tools and lifting equipment to delicately place large stones), Max shapes powerful monuments to love, joy and grief, often capturing all three in one sculpture. His works are rooted in their immediate landscapes and reflect deeply personal stories. He looks to birds’ eggs, leaves and fruit for inspiration but ultimately it is the stones that lead the way a tale is told.

Sculptures range from multi-tonne bodies of rock to delicate rope work and inscriptions. Each piece stands heavy with emotion. Yet the lines that form each work seem to have been achieved with the lightest of touches. When an idea for a permanent tribute began to form in my mind, I knew Max was the perfect person to work with.

A creative partnership

Being able to design and work with Max on a sculpture for the walled garden at Glenburn Hall was a deeply rewarding experience.

To begin our creative process, Max gave me time to explain why a permanent marker was needed. Having studied the proposed site and confirmed the work’s scale, Max then ink-sketched our joint-vision for ‘Reel’.

‘Reel’ celebrates our family’s love of fly fishing and on-going efforts to protect and restore Wild Salmon. The round of a fishing reel appears as a flat lay and incorporates slate, river-bed cobbles and re-shaped stone slabs (originally used in a Chelsea Garden project). A river of sea-glass and shells, collected by our family from Scottish beaches and in-laid by me, meanders through the whole. It is a symbol of love for the natural world that links each member of our family and to which, I am sure, all future custodians of Glenburn will be able to relate.

Sculptures heavy with meaning

Max has worked throughout the UK for private clients, charities and local communities. Red Sandstone is a favourite material with slate, pebbles and marble are also often used. Stone is locally and responsibly sourced and where possible, reclaimed. Depending on complexity, a nine-foot stand-alone sculpture will take between three to six weeks to complete with Max working in all but freezing weather conditions.

One of his favourite works was created for a charity that supports parents and families who have experienced the devastating loss of a baby. Featuring three distinct shapes knotted together by life and grief, uplifting tenderness and comfort appears to fill the standing stones. For the private commission ‘Displaced Egg’, Max carefully placed layers upon layers of Westmorland slate so they appear to hover within a meadow. It is an illusion of precious fragility that seems to defy gravity.

The variety of shapes Max can create is astonishing. Yet without the techniques learnt as a Dyker, they would simply not be possible. Max enables old stone to tell new stories and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to work alongside him.

It all began with a digger!