I see by the snailpapers that Walter Arnold is a master stone-carver with an amazing repertoire (featured on CNN in 1989, he deserves a front page story in the New York Times, if you ask me!) Headline might read: "THIS GUY ROCKS!"

THIS GUY ROCKS!

Walter Arnold is a master stone-carver with an amazing repertoire. His work was featured on CNN in 1989, and now in 2010, I feel he deserves a front page story in the New York Times. But before that happens, take a look at these photos on his website and read the brief interview below. This guy rocks!

A blogger, a travelling rabbi -- Rabbi Jason Miller -- blogged recently:

".......I was on an airplane returning home from New York. A Jewish man sat down next me. (I know he was Jewish because as soon as he saw I was wearing a kippah, he immediately told me that he's Jewish and that he speaks a little Yiddish.) He spent the entire plane ride telling me about what he did for a living. And it was truly fascinating.

The man, Walter Arnold (pictured above), is extremely talented artist who works with stone. He's designed beautiful fireplaces, breezeways, fountains, and sculptures for some of the most breathtaking homes and churches in the country. Trained in Italy, Walter told me that his art graces the White House, Washington National Cathedral, and the Capitol. He pulled out his computer and showed me dozens of pictures of his work. It was breathtaking.

At the end of the flight, Walter handed me his business card and asked for mine in return. Looking at it, he exclaimed, "Wait, you didn't tell me you were a rabbi. I could have asked you so many questions!" I explained to him that what he does for a living is much more interesting to me than what I do. I thanked him for the enjoyable conversation. And we said goodbye."

That's how this blog -- I SEE BY THE SNAILPAPERS -- discovered Mr Arnold. So we wrote to him and asked a few questions. He kindly answered in Internet time and here's our report. When we told Walter that we first read about him from our cave here in Taiwan, where news travels slowly all the time, it's 1958 here for example, he told us:

"Thanks for letting me know about the rabbi's blog. It was a really enjoyable flight and enjoyable discussion we had on board. The rabbi told me a lot about the Detroit Jewish community; my wife and I spent a weekend there about a dozen years ago when my daughter participated in the Maccabee Games there, and he was able to tell me about the families we'd met at the time."

When this blog asked Walter if stone carving or any kind of art background was in his family DNA, Walter, who is in his mid-50s, replied:

"No carving in the family history, but I learned by apprenticing to people who's families had been doing this for many generations. My father was photographer, so I learned a lot about composition, design, and visual communications from him."



Question: Did you always know that you were going to do this as your life's work? How old were you when you knew this was your life?



WALTER ARNOLD: "By the time I was 12 I knew it was what I should be doing."

When we asked if he ever ''dreams'' about carving stone at night in his dreams -- often or
just sometimes? -- and does he solve carving problems that way, Walter said: "I solve the problems by looking at them in different ways. When they are tricky, I just step back for a while and figure out what the roadblocks are."

Question: What does your daughter think of what Dad does?

WALTER: "She has degrees in art history and museum studies, and is currently working for me, rebuilding my website (the site is almost 16-years-old, and needs to be brought up to date and given better structure) and organizing my business. So she is very interested in what I do.


SO NOW YOU KNOW....THE REST OF THE STORY, as Paul Harvey used to say. Now go look at this master stone-carver's work here:
http://www.stonecarver.com/