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Boone stone sculptor Ken Broderick standing next to some of his Neolithic families.

One of Boone stone sculptor Ken Broderick’s most intricate creations.

The workshop and rock pile of Boone stone sculptor Ken Broderick.

One of Ken Broderick’s first stone sculptures, a large piece that resides in Ken and wife Susan’s front yard in Boone.

A friend and I have made it a tradition to attend the yearly (always in October) one-day-only Valle Country Fair just off N.C. Highway 194 between Valle Crucis and Banner Elk. The fair was founded in 1979 by members of Holy Cross Episcopal Church to raise money for area missions. There are bluegrass and country bands, food tents, and around 150 juried fine art and crafts booths.

First, we buy homemade apple butter before it runs out. Next, we fortify ourselves with bratwursts covered in mustard and grilled onions, tucked into soft warm buns. Finally, we chart our course and head out among the potters, jewelry makers, woodworkers, and so on.

This year as every year, I marveled at people’s talents. Standing out, though, were small sculptures made of stone. I love rocks. Rock houses, stone-encircled flower beds, those carefully balanced rock stacks built by hikers on trails.

I’d never seen stone sculptures before, and I was intrigued by the man behind their construction: Ken Roderick, a retired field technician for AT&T and the founder of StoneAge Artworks. Though he doesn’t live in a cave, his creations definitely made me think about how cave people might have spent their spare time — assuming cave dwellers had spare time: finding rocks that looked like features of animals or people or birds and connecting them somehow — probably with some sort of crude tar.

I asked Ken where he lived and if I could interview him. He obliged.

Ken’s home, workshop, and rockpile are in Boone. On a rainy day a few weeks ago, I talked to him and his wife Susan at their house, which wasn’t too hard to find since the front yard was decorated with large and small stone sculptures, and off to one side was what I’m calling the rock shed — Ken’s workshop, in front of which was every little kid’s dream: a big rock pile.

“Initially,” said Ken, “the product fell in the category of folk art — self-taught, rustic, and unrefined. Over about 12 years, it got to the place of being more fine art as opposed to folk art.”

The look is what became more refined. At first, Ken found large rocks that resembled basic human body parts: arms, legs, hands, head. He used mortar and rebar to link the rocks together and left the results in his front yard “just for me,” said Ken.

“People stopped by and asked about them, and I thought I should make smaller ones to sell and give as gifts. I did my first show in 2016 for the arts council.” Ken and Susan are members of the North Carolina Folk Art Society and the Watauga County Arts Council.

“As a kid I was always making stuff and showing my mom,” Ken reported. The son of an architect, he’d draw things and make three-dimensional objects. Ken grew up in Miami, Florida, as did Susan. “The neighborhood kids and I made our own things — kites, parachutes. I was always looking at the possibilities of found resources”

With Ken and Susan’s 1995 move to Boone came a new world of mountain weather, surroundings, and found resources. Ken said he went from working outdoors on a job in South Beach, Florida, to standing in snow just two weeks later. He discovered the natural treasures of mountain creeks.

Initially, he was taken with all the driftwood along the creeks. He began making objects out of the wood. There was a problem, however. “It doesn’t last long,” said Ken. “I wanted to make things that would last. While I was in the creeks, I noticed the rocks.”

He began gathering river rocks, expanding his search to five counties: Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Ashe, and Yancey. Ken stressed, “I collect from private property with the permission of the owner — mostly on banks of rivers.”

“A beachy area with tons of rocks,” Susan added.

Becoming an expert stone sculptor took trial and error.

“I never used to do a whole lot of shaping or polishing,” said Ken. Now, using a grinder and different grinding heads, he does both “to bring out the inner quality of the stone itself,” he explained. “It enhances the whole piece.”

“He sees things in rocks,” said Susan.

“If I can pick up a rock and see the end result in it, I can remove everything that’s not part of that piece,” Ken explained. “It’s helpful to have a rock that’s on its way to being what it wants to be.” Many of Ken’s sculptures are “caricatures of animals,” as he described his work.

All that grinding and polishing, especially now that Ken works toward thinner and more lifelike parts, such as a rabbit’s ears, can, occasionally, lead to disaster. Ken admitted that a rock splitting open after he’s invested much time in it can produce expletives. “I can hear him from the house,” said Susan.

Croatian sculptor Nikola Faler dedicates his time to tracing enormous geometrical sand artworks that last only while the tide is out.

The major thing, explained Ken, is the construction. All joints are drilled, and metal pins are inserted. The pins and stones are glued together with epoxy.

Ken said his first attempt at connecting pieces to create a small sculpture was a dove. “I just glued it together,” he said. “It fell apart.”

The second one, however, the one whose assembly included drilling, metal pins, and epoxy, is still intact. “However,” Ken pointed out, “if enough surface area exists, a pin is not needed — only epoxy.”

“All pieces are sealed, but things can happen,” Ken shared, saying he tells customers he offers complimentary repairs or replacements “even if a raccoon knocks a piece over.”

Most of Ken’s sculptures are small enough to sit on outdoor or indoor tables. He has created some large sculptures — particularly oversize humans — that work best in yards. He’s crafted what he calls his Neolithic families, which are primitive-looking small groupings of adults and children with simple rectangular or triangular heads and straight bodies.

As stated, Ken and Susan live in Boone where winters can be brutal, leaving a stone sculptor’s rock pile frozen and snow covered. For this reason, Ken’s is a spring, summer and fall pursuit, one that requires a great deal of time per sculpture. First, he prepares all the pieces. For a rabbit, that’s nine components: two ears, one head, one body, a tail, two arms, two legs. He spends hours shaping, polishing and drilling holes. Then there’s the assembling of the pieces. Finally, the art is sealed with a couple of different types: a color-enhancing concoction and a penetrating sealer to keep water out.

Because of all the time it takes to gather rocks, prepare them and assemble them, Ken sells at only four or five shows per year. He said it takes all his time just to get ready for the shows, so he’s not keen on doing commissioned pieces or filling orders. In fact, if you want a Ken Broderick piece, you’re going to have to go to a show where he and Susan have a booth.

Next up is Banner Elk’s Art on the Greene on Memorial Day weekend in 2023. It takes place at Historic Banner Elk School, 185 Azalea Circle, Banner Elk and goes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

“I don’t want to think of it as a job,” Ken said. “As long as I can keep it fun and rewarding and as long as my back holds up from lugging bags of rocks around, I’ll keep doing it.”

And I’ll keep looking for him and Susan when I go to the Valle Country Fair. Just thinking about it makes me want a bratwurst.

Share story ideas with Mary at marycanrobert@charter.net.

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Boone stone sculptor Ken Broderick standing next to some of his Neolithic families.

One of Boone stone sculptor Ken Broderick’s most intricate creations.

The workshop and rock pile of Boone stone sculptor Ken Broderick.

One of Ken Broderick’s first stone sculptures, a large piece that resides in Ken and wife Susan’s front yard in Boone.

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