An Evening in Stone: Richard Rhodes at the CCA

The sculptor and author on the oldest material we build with, and the long apprenticeship it asks of anyone who takes it seriously.

On Thursday, July 30, the sculptor Richard Rhodes spoke at the Center for Contemporary Arts, an evening built around his book, Stone: Ancient Craft to Modern Mastery. It was a full and generous room, and the audience stayed with him. We had the honor of introducing him. Afterward, Richard signed copies of the book, and the conversations carried on well past the last page.

There are few subjects better suited to Santa Fe than this one. We are a city that has always been built from what the ground offers, and Richard has spent a working life learning what stone will and will not permit.

A Life in Stone

Richard Rhodes is a stone sculptor, which is to say he belongs to one of the oldest and least forgiving trades there is. His education did not happen in a lecture hall. He apprenticed as a stonemason in Siena, Italy, and in doing so became the first person from outside Italy admitted to that city’s guild of masons in centuries. It is worth pausing on that. Siena has been cutting and setting stone since long before there was a Santa Fe, and the guild that guards the craft does not open its doors lightly. Richard earned his place at the bench the way the material demands, slowly and by hand.

That patience is the through line of everything he makes and everything he writes. Stone does not reward haste. It records every decision, and it keeps no secrets. A life spent working it becomes a kind of argument for attention.

The Book

Stone: Ancient Craft to Modern Mastery moves across that long history, from the quarries and cathedrals of the ancient world to the way stone is understood and worked today. It carries a foreword by Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic, whose eye for how buildings hold meaning makes him a fitting companion to the subject. The result is a book that treats stone not as a surface but as a discipline, one with a lineage that stretches back as far as building itself.

We will leave the substance of Richard’s talk to those who were in the room, and to the book, which says it better than any recap could. What the evening confirmed is simpler: this is a maker who knows his material from the inside, and who can speak about it without a trace of hurry.

At Webster Collection

The conversation continues a few steps from The Plaza. Webster Collection is currently showing Richard’s photographs from the book, images that carry the same attention to weight, grain, and light that the sculptures do. The book itself is available for purchase at the gallery, for anyone who wants to sit with it at length.

We are glad to have his work on the walls. It belongs to the register of things we have always cared about here, objects and images made by people who have given years to a single pursuit.

Stone, Craft, and What Lasts

Santa Fe is a city built of earth and stone, of adobe walls that soften at the corners and doorways worn smooth by generations passing through. We live among materials that outlast us, and that is not a small thing. Richard’s work, and his book, are a reminder of what it costs to make something that endures, and why the cost is worth paying. Stone keeps the record. The craft is in learning to write on it with care.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Richard Rhodes?

Richard Rhodes is a stone sculptor and author. He apprenticed as a stonemason in Siena, Italy, becoming the first person from outside Italy admitted to that city’s guild of masons in centuries. He is the author of Stone: Ancient Craft to Modern Mastery.

What is the book Stone: Ancient Craft to Modern Mastery?

It is Richard Rhodes’s book on stone in architecture and craft, moving from the quarries and cathedrals of the ancient world to the way stone is understood and worked today. It carries a foreword by the architecture critic Paul Goldberger and was published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Where can I see Richard Rhodes’s photographs or buy the book in Santa Fe?

Webster Collection, a few steps from The Plaza, is currently showing Richard’s photographs from the book, images that carry the same attention to weight, grain, and light that the sculptures do. The book itself is available for purchase at the gallery.