Families carve limestone, learn about science, art

A crowd gathered outside the WonderLab Museum of Health, Science & Technology on Friday evening to watch local artists carve into blocks of limestone. Letters and intricate flowers formed as the artists chiseled away at the rocks’ surfaces. Inside the Wonderlab, children learned about limestone through various hands-on activities.

On the first Friday of every month, the WonderLab offers a “Science of the Art” themed evening from 5 to 8:30 p.m., with free admission for Wonderlab members and $3.50 admission for non-members. The events include interactive, hands-on activities and feature guest artists or scientists.

The Indiana Arts Commission, Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District, the city of Bloomington Arts Commission and a private donor provided grants that helped make First Friday events possible.

June’s First Friday event was “Science of the Art: Limestone Carving,” appropriate for the beginning of Limestone Month in Indiana. Local limestone artists Amy Brier, Dale Enochs, Sharon Fullingim and Delaine Gertsbauer demonstrated carving techniques and talked to visitors about Indiana limestone.

Participants made their own toothpaste using a mixture of flavored antacids, baking soda and water. Bars of soap were provided for children to test their carving abilities, and WonderLab employees helped visitors create petroglyphs, which are symbols carved on the surface of rocks and stones.

Sarah Lempke, WonderLab employee and IU student pursuing a masters in arts and administration through the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, helped develop the limestone program. With a staff interested in science, Lempke hoped to generate some interest in art and expose children to art from a different perspective.

“I wanted to bring a bit of an arts background to a science museum,” she said.
Lempke also helped create the activities market. The goal of the event was to draw in young families and to let children make something they could take home.

“It’s fun because parents seem to have as much fun as the kids do,” Lempke said.
Andrea Oeding, assistant gallery director at WonderLab who is also Lempke’s adviser, also helped plan the event, create the activities and write the grants. Oeding hopes the First Friday events attract all ages and created the events so older children and adults could also enjoy the activities.

“I enjoy seeing a little 5-year-old working at the same table as a 65-year-old,” Oeding said.

Many of the visiting artists take part in the 16th annual Limestone Symposium in Ellettsville, Ind. The symposium will run until June 23 on the grounds of Bybee Stone
Company.

Brier, founder of the Limestone Symposium, has professionally carved limestone for more than 20 years and has demonstrated carving techniques for WonderLab in the past. Brier has taught classes at the Symposium and offers courses at Ivy Tech Bloomington.

“(Limestone) is a part of our culture,” Brier said. “I want to reveal it to as many people as I can, make it accessible.”

Delaine Gertsbauer, a Bloomington resident and wood carver who spoke to visitors at the event, took Brier’s class at Ivy Tech and “got bit by the bug.” Gertsbauer said she enjoyed working with the children at the WonderLab demonstration.

Gertsbauer believes it is important to teach children about limestone because it is a part of their heritage. Gertsbauer also hopes children can appreciate the art of
limestone carving.

“They can do this,” Gertsbauer said. ”It’s not a lost art.”