Modern Egypt - Sculpture at Aswan

The Ellsworth American (Letitia Baldwin)

Steuben sculptor Jesse Salisbury created a 10-ton sculpture from pink Aswan granite as part of the 13th Aswan International Sculpture Symposium in Egypt

For Steuben sculptor Jesse Salisbury, working on his own granite piece in the shadow of an unfinished, 1,000-pound obelisk partially hewn thousands of years ago stands out as a unique life experience from participating in the 13th Aswan International Sculpture Symposium in Egypt.

At his Joe Leighton Road studio this week, Salisbury used an Egyptian stonecutter’s hammer to work on his latest granite pieces. The traditional tool was hand-forged for him on site at the two-month symposium staged amid ancient granite quarries in the Nile River city of Aswan some 500 miles south of Cairo. The Steuben sculptor was one of 15 artists chosen from around the world to participate in the annual event running from Jan. 21-March 10. He was the only American among participating artists who hailed from Egypt, Japan, Turkey, Greece, Taiwan, Brazil and Iraq.