IAfter retiring from her career as a social worker in 2019, Ann Freed Kernis decided to build a workshop in her home and devote all her free time to stone carving. “It’s really therapeutic and completely addictive,” she says. “I may be covered in dust from head to toe, but I’m happy. That’s what I needed more of in my life at 60.”
The roots of this fascination lie in Freed-Karnis’ childhood. Growing up on her father’s farm in Denmark, she wandered through fields, staring at the ground, looking for stones to add to her collection. “I’ve always been drawn to the shapes and textures of stone,” she says.
After immigrating to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed Kerniss soon found herself busy with a busy career and raising her son. Stone was never on her mind until her father passed away in 2005. “Her father took a course in stone carving after he retired. He always thought it looked like a lot of fun, but he never had the time to look into it himself,” she says. “After he passed away, I decided to study in his honor.”
Enrolling in a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Freed Kerniss began learning how to transform blocks of rock into elegant, figurative shapes while overlooking Henry Moore’s vast sculptures. It was a tiring but exhilarating experience. “It was really scary at first because I would be spending hours just hammering away. While the teacher was blowing away big chunks, I felt like I couldn’t get anywhere,” she says. “But I’m glad I kept going, because eventually you start to see the images in your head emerge from the stone, and it’s exhilarating.”
The first piece she brought to life was a giant salamander. She was so big that her son helped her carry her from her car to her garden in Manchester. She still remains there. She then attended other stone carving courses in her local area during her work breaks and slowly built up her own hammer and chisel collection, carving animals and abstract figures. went.
When she turned 60 in 2019, she realized this had become a passion for her to focus on. “I love the creative process of seeing everything else fade away and the designs I sketch in 2D come to life,” she says. “I felt a new purpose,” she said.
Once he was able to collect his pension, Freed-Karniss built a workshop in his garden, where he could create sculptures and blocks of stone dust whenever he pleased. She posted her own work to her local gallery and began receiving her commissions. “People started seeing and touching my work at local shows and decided to buy it,” she says. She said, “I’m so happy that you liked my style.”
Freed Karnis, now 65 years old, has a thriving small business built primarily through word of mouth. She creates 12 to 15 pieces a year, which take her from a few days to three weeks to complete, and prices range from £200 to £3,000. Her work has a delicate feel, following smooth surfaces and flowing lines to create pleasantly rounded objects, such as a stooped elephant or a seated cow.
“I’m currently working on smaller pieces that I can hold and move, such as a series of alabaster beluga whales and owls,” she says. “We don’t have to rely on money so much, so we want to keep the price within what people can afford, mainly just covering the cost and hassle.”
Freedkarnis is scheduled to exhibit at Chorlton Arts Festival in May and has currently completed five works for the exhibition, including a whale-themed water feature that produces fountains of water from its blowholes. “As long as I’m physically able to sculpt, I’ll sculpt. It became a lifelong pursuit,” she says. “Plus, it’s great for when you’re in a bad mood. Nothing makes you feel better than hitting a rock hard over and over again. I encourage you all to try it.”
