There is no right of wrong way to approach carving a piece of stone. Vance Theoret’s approach is called “direct carving” method, this means that he looks at the stone and decides what shapes of animals are waiting be released. He views the stone from all angles until he can connect with the different shapes that stone lends itself to. Vance describes this technique as “talking with the stone”. He has been practicing this method for close to 30 years.
Working in alabasters, soapstone’s, slate, chlorite and Kissi stone, Vance carves a variety of subjects – but bears are by far his favourite. “Bears are like big kids that never really grow up. So I can get away with portraying a lot of human qualities in them. I like to explore the more playful, curious aspects of bears.”
Vance Theoret’s work ranges from small pieces for gifts to larger sculptures for private and corporate collections. His pieces can be found as far away as Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, Taiwan and Japan.
