Want to learn how to carve stone? Tenino guild now offering classes to keep heritage alive
On three August summer days, stone carver Daniel Miller taught a group of students how to work with sandstone at the historic Hercules #1 Quarry in Tenino.
“What I was trying to accomplish was to give beginner students an insight into the tools, the stone, correct methods of using chisels,” Miller said. “What I wanted to provide was a good springboard for further endeavors for them.”
Miller is part of the Tenino Stone Carvers Guild, a group of seasoned, local stone carvers who only formalized their guild in early 2023. Their mission is to pass on the customs and knowledge of Tenino’s stone carving heritage, Guild Director Bill Lenker said. To that end, the guild has taken on commissions, consignments and now education.
“From the impetus of the guild, education was an important element,” Lenker said.
Miller’s class, “Introduction to Banker Masonry,” was one of two sets of classes offered over the summer. The other was “Hammer and Chisel Carving” by sculptor Myrna Orsini. The feedback was very positive, Lenker said.
“I feel like I’m letting everybody else in on our secret,” Lenker said.
More classes are being offered soon at Arbutus Folk School in downtown Olympia. Lenker said their current model is to have classes in Tenino during the summer and classes in Olympia during colder months.
The first class is being headed by master stone carver Keith Phillips. He first came to Tenino in 1984 and helped bridge a generational gap with the older guard of stone carvers. His class, “Relief Carving in Tenino Sandstone,” is slated to run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on four Sundays from Nov. 2-23 and already has a waitlist.
Enrollees can expect to learn how to sculpt a simple image of their choosing into stone, Phillips said.
“It’s very fundamental, basic beginning stone carving,” Phillips said. “I want students to be successful and have a feeling of satisfaction when they’re done.”
Miller, who hails from the United Kingdom and has 30 years of experience with stone, will teach a class of the same name 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on four Saturdays from Jan. 10-31. Spots were still open as of Friday.
“I’m going to encourage them to keep it simple,” Miller said. “Maybe a simple Celtic knot or a simple outline of an animal.”
A new class taught by Orsini is expected to run in spring, Lenker said.
The example Phillips has set has been a driving factor for the guild’s educational mission, Lenker said. “When we formed the guild, we wanted to do another generation leap,” he said.
Phillips said he’s been teaching students of various levels for about 15 years. He said he started working at the Tenino quarry in 1990 and later opened a showroom in downtown Tenino.
Over the years, he said he’s had a hand in stonework in Tenino, Olympia, and even as far as San Francisco. Through his career, Phillips mentored and assisted current guild members just as previous stone carvers did for him.
“Knowing that they helped me, I felt the responsibility to help others,” Phillips said.
Lenker said the guild has purchased property near the Ticknor School and Tenino Depot Museum at Tenino City Park with the help of a $150,000 state grant they got in 2023. The guild hopes to raise enough money to eventually develop an educational “Public Interaction Building” on the property.
“With our period specific elements, I think we tie in with the museum really well to celebrate the local history and heritage of stone carving,” Lenker.
This story was originally published October 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
