About

My Studio

Sidor Studio exists as an online store and gallery, and as a workshop in Ithaca, New York.

The website is a venue for providing education and resources to stone carvers everywhere, and for sharing my experiences about art and life.

My workshop is open every Saturday morning to visitors and students alike. I love teaching and encouraging people to explore their creativity. Students find me patient, earthy, and unpretentious. Call me to schedule a visit, lesson, or group workshop.

My Work

My more than forty years of creating stone art has kept me grounded in a timeless, ancient world. People and animals – often bears and owls – are my favorite subjects. I have sold over 500 carvings and mosaics. My work resides in six Zen temples, two art museums, and many private collections.

My Life

I grew up mostly in New England, but we moved often for my father's career. My parents were creative people and they encouraged my fascination with making things from wood and clay.

I studied philosophy and creative writing at Mount Holyoke College, and earned a Master's degree in counseling and vocational rehabilitation from Boston University. In 1968, I married a German immigrant pursuing a doctorate in environmental health. We had two daughters and eventually moved to rural New Hampshire to start a vineyard.

A serious illness forced me to leave my home and marriage. As I recovered, I attended art classes in the Boston area, including at the famed School of the Museum of Fine Arts. I began carving stone in 1980 under a canopy in my New Hampshire backyard, and then moved to a Zen Buddhist temple in Rhode Island. After several years there, I settled in Arizona, where I worked amid the flora and fauna of the Sonoran desert for twenty years.

I have had many professions in my life: editor, journalist, art instructor, literacy tutor, mental health counselor, stone carving instructor, and ordained Zen Buddhist Dharma teacher

I have traveled extensively throughout the U.S., moving from teaching in Provincetown's art colony in the summer, to wintering in Arizona. I often felt like an ancient herder moving animals to seasonal pastures, taking my trailer to stone quarries in Utah, Texas, and Vermont. I finally relocated to Ithaca, New York in 2023, and added a workshop next to my home.

I'm in my eighties and my vagabond days are behind me. I now enjoy living with my daughter in Ithaca, and teaching others stone craft in my studio.