On Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by intricately carved pieces of sandstone, Keith Phillips, a master stonecutter, stands inside a rustic shed in downtown Tenino which will be the future site of his public demonstrations. On Nov. 15 Phillips, 67, will be opening up a storefront in downtown Tenino that will allow people to see his talents on display.
Keith Phillips uses a special, heavy-duty power saw to cut through a slab of sandstone on Tuesday afternoon at his work area in Tenino.
Master stone carver Keith Phillips runs his hands across a stone dragonfly that is the centerpiece to a bird bath he is working on at his shed in downtown Tenino on Tuesday afternoon.
Keith Phillips, a master stonecutter, shows how he delicately carves away at a piece of sandstone at his shop on Tuesday afternoon in Tenino.
Keith Phillips stands in a stone quarry in Tenino on Tuesday afternoon.
Keith Phillips picks up his tools and starts chipping away at the sandstone, a rock that tells the history of Tenino.
As he concentrates on making the correct marks, he focuses on the work in front of him, a passion of his since he graduated college.
Phillips has turned that passion into a living, carrying on the legacy of the sandstone quarry in Tenino. As the only master stone carver in the city, he works on multiple projects at a time, many of them for local businesses and groups.
The task at hand is important to him and it is evident in the steady, deliberate chips he makes while carving words into stone. Donning an apron, a historical sign of prestige, Phillips chips out pieces of his memoir.
Soon Phillips will be expanding his trade into the downtown streets of Tenino where he will open a storefront to showcase his work. There he hopes to share the history he has continued to keep alive.
“It’s all about Tenino, it’s not about me,” Phillips said. “It’s about the historical heritage and the business community in downtown Tenino’s historical representation.”
The Tenino Area Chamber of Commerce plans to commemorate his new storefront located behind Marin Computer in an old, historic feed shed. A grand opening celebration is planned for Nov. 15. Olympia Street will be closed, stone soup will be served and people from the community and surrounding areas will be able to get a better idea of the stone carver’s life and work.
“This involves the whole community and its history,” Joyce Worrell, president of the chamber, said. “Keith is loved by all here, and we are hoping this will bring tourism into the city also.”
Phillips plans to be at the new storefront on Fridays and Saturdays. The majority of his work will continue at his current location, while the new space will serve as a place to add the final artistic touches to his pieces.
When there, he will wheel out a stone carved welcome sign to prop the doors open, and a sign will hang on the building letting everyone know a stone carver is hard at work inside.
The hope is to bring tourism into the city and to create an atmosphere similar to Williamsburg, Virginia, a place where tourists can stop and see a recreation of the colonial times.
“It’s always been kind of a thought of mine to come downtown and have a historical kind of presentation to start that Williamsburg, Virginia concept,” Phillips said.
The respect Phillips has garnered from the community is apparent as he walks the streets of Tenino. Friendly people greet him, stopping him to carry on conversations. Phillips has been an important part of the area, and bits and pieces of his work are scattered throughout the city and beyond.
“When I got to Tenino in ’89, they were experiencing a stone renaissance here in town, so the city passed an ordinance saying you have to have some Tenino sandstone in your new construction,” Phillips said. “I walked right into a situation made in heaven.”
He was hired to do multiple jobs throughout the city, adding sandstone pieces of art to the doctor’s office, the drug store, the grocery store, the library and the dentist’s office, among other places.
“I wanted to carve anything and everything,” he said.
Phillips picked up the trade as a hobby in 1984 after finishing college. Originally, he was asked to be a night watchman at the quarry, but after submitting a letter with pictures of his work, he was hired on as the stone carver. Although some of his family members worked at the quarry, none of them had taken the artistic approach he possessed.
“A couple of my great uncles worked here, but in the old days they weren’t the highly skilled,” Phillips said. “I do more of the stone cutting and carving and what they did was the auxiliary work at the quarry.”
To Phillips, the important part of his job is keeping the narrative of Tenino alive, a legacy he is proud to be apart of.
“It’s about the stone industry in Tenino and the history here,” he said. “Tenino is a town of historical character that should be preserved and enhanced.”
Now his work area is set up outside of town with a beautiful backdrop of the old quarry. Owned by Marenakos Hercules Quarry, Phillips said he is their lucky guest. Stone steps descend from above, marking the different historical times the sandstone was quarried.
“It’s amazing, just the awe of it,” Phillips said.
He credits what he does to Tenino and the community within, and hopes the storefront gives back to those who have supported him.
“I’m only really able to do as much as I do because the people in Tenino love their stone,” Phillips said. “They have been absolutely wonderful to me. I owe my existence to all the wonderful and all of the thoughtful people in Tenino as a stonecutter.”
