Horice is a pretty town on a sandstone ridge in the Czech republic famous for its high quality stone, from which most of old Prague was built. Stone sculpture symposiums hosted here started in 1966 and have seen nearly 100 sculptors make work there over the years.

The symposiums were dramatically interrupted in 1968 when the liberalisation of the communist regime under Alexander Dubczek, known as the Prague Spring, was halted by the invasion of 500.000 Russian troops and their tanks. In Prague they entered Wenseslas Square and mistaking the magnificent National Gallery for the Parliament, they shelled the building. 100 people were killed in Prague and 150,000 left the country, the dark days of repression lasted until Vaclav Havel's Velvet Revolution in 1989.

The continuation of the symposiums in 1989 were part of the flowering of Czech culture that has occurred since then, resulting in many things including the fantastic graduation show I saw at the Prague Academy of Arts.

In Horice (pron. Horitze), the symposium is the pride of the town, linked intimately with its famous stone sculpture academy and the remaining sandstone quarry near the town. Usually 5 sculptors are invited from around the World and they set to work in the lovely environment of St. Joseph's (the patron saint of stone carvers) quarry, long disused, deep in the woods between the town and the 'Giant' mountains on the Polish border.

The participants this year were Tomas Domanski from Poland, who works generally on process pieces involving the melting and refreezing if ice, Michael Schoenholtz, Professor of sculpture at the Berlin Academy of Arts and one of the original participants from 1966, Tanya Preminger from Israel, Jaroslav Cerny, a highly skilled Czech stone carver and myself.

The symposium pays a modest fee, reasonable when the cost of living and wages in the Czech republic are taken into account, and provides accommodation in good, friendly hotel in overlooking the town square. The sculptors chose stone form a working quarry near Horice and with help from the organisers, assistants from the stone academy and assorted family members, produced a very diverse range of works. These are transported to a riverside exhibition in Hradek Kralov, the regional capital for a year and then are returned to join the amazing collection of work on a hillside above Horice.

In all it was a very satisfying symposium with a very friendly atmosphere; A little bad feeling was caused by the attitude of one of the sculptors who produced a piece in a very perfunctory way, took the money and left as quickly as possible, not engaging with the event. However her actions did not spoil the highly succesful outcome and the connections and friendship that developed between the other sculptors and the local people. I felt that the discourse between sculptors that usually happens at these events did not occur as much as usual because there was not a set evening meal for us all to sit together. These discussions form the core of many symposia. A lot of talking, helping each other out and eating wild berry cakes did go on in the quarry however.

For more information: www.symposiumhorice.cz or www.horice.org