A Career Carved in Stone

» Malcolm Harlow’s work reflects an ancient artform.

BY KAREN DOSS BOWMAN

Long gone are the days when massive cathedrals and other buildings were adorned with ornate stonework. Most building decisions now are driven by the need for quick turnaround and a healthy bottom line. Even so, stone sculptor Malcolm Harlow of Berryville had the chance more than three decades ago to contribute an ancient art form to complete one of the nation’s historic spiritual centers: the Washington National Cathedral.

Harlow was hired as a journeyman stone carver in 1972 as part of a major construction project to complete the Nave and the cathedral’s west end. It was a plum job for the young artist, who worked for the next seven years alongside some of the world’s master carvers, designing and carving gargoyles and other gothic elements for the cathedral.

“I was very grateful because it was a great opportunity to do this [to enhance] not only my carving skills, but it gave me a chance to do design work as well,” says Harlow, who studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Schuler School of Fine Arts, both in Baltimore.

Though more than 30 years have passed since Harlow completed his work at the National Cathedral, he still has a small collection of tiny scale models of the gargoyles he designed.

Sporting his signature white terry Australian toweling hat, Harlow shows off his latest projects, including restoration of a marble tombstone dated 1845 and a 7-by-4-foot piece of granite he’s helping another aspiring carver transform into an abstract butterfly commissioned by the Howard Hughes Research Center in Leesburg. Often accompanied by his cat, Bruce—who isn’t bothered by the squeaking sounds of chisel against stone, the clink of hammer on chisel or the loud buzzing of compressed air tools—Harlow spends hours each day in his carving studio, an old tractor barn located on the 13-acre farm he owns with wife Gale.

How He Does It Stone sculpting is an ancient art dating back to prehistoric days. Though the fundamentals of the art form haven’t changed, the tools have seen some innovations since the era when Michelangelo carved “David” with a hammer and hand-forged chisel. The tips of modern chisels are tipped with a hard carbide that retains its sharp point for a longer time; compressed air tools help speed up the job.

Harlow begins the sculpting process with research, sketches and a clay study of his subject. Once he has perfected every detail on the clay model, Harlow casts a plaster model that will be used as a “copy” to produce the final version. This helps him avoid making mistakes on a pricey block or slab of stone. The sculpting begins with “roughing out” the figure with a hammer and large chisel. Next, Harlow begins chipping out the details—arms, hands, legs, feet, for example—with the aid of his “pointing machine,” an ancient measuring device for three-dimensional objects consisting of adjustable metal arms and pointers that allow him to reproduce, reduce or enlarge the object in proportion. Harlow uses his smaller, delicate tools to add texture and the finest details such as eyelashes and hair. At this point, Harlow says, “I’m basically carving dust.”

“One of the questions I often get asked is, which stone do I prefer to work with?” says Harlow, who learned about stone carving and the stone industry from his summer job at the Rullman and Wilson Stone Fabrication Mill in Baltimore. “But I don’t think in those terms. I think of each material—plaster, limestone, marble, granite—as a different language, and it’s my responsibility to adapt each language appropriate to the conditions of the [project].”

Harlow’s first major public monument was completed five years ago—the bronze sculpture of George Washington as a young surveyor, which stands next to Washington’s Office Museum in Winchester. He and Gale, also an artist, worked on a scale model of Josephine Street, circa 1930, for the city’s Josephine School Community Museum, completed last year.

Future Plans The Harlows’ farm, Opus Oaks, An Art Place, offers a studio art school, internships for high schoolers and 10 weeks of summer art camps. The couple also plans to open a museum and art gallery and to build a variety of structures for secluded artists’ retreats.

Juggling a variety of projects keeps Harlow’s interest high and allows him to move on to something new when he gets stuck creatively.

“I think of it like a garden,” Harlow says. “You plant vegetables at different times, and they all grow at different rates—some new ones become mature and you harvest them. You plant new ones while the old ones are going out.”