Evan Marker

Evan Marker believes in the preservation of traditional skills and techniques as practiced in a wide range of areas. He views the increasing digitisation and mechanisation of many roles historically carried out by skilled workers is leading towards the loss of human qualities in many fields.

            In his role as a stonemason, Evan discovered that the traditional skills of hand-carving inscriptions in stone was all but non-existent in Australia. Further investigation revealed that there existed a healthy and growing interest in traditional methods of carving inscriptions in stone in Europe. Hand drawn and hand carved inscriptions in stone are widely regarded as vastly more impressive and creative than the contemporary method of sand-blasting inscriptions, using stencils sourced on-line, into the stone surface. Examples of hand carved inscriptions in stone are evident in the earliest known human cultures and are present in almost all cultures throughout human history. They provide connection and continuation for modern society to the earliest known societies in the human race. Unable to source any kind of training or guidance in the craft in Australia, Evan turned to the Churchill Trust to support his endeavours to learn the craft through attending workshops and meeting contemporary carvers in the United Kingdom.

               Evan is currently the principal stonemason in his own company undertaking projects mainly associated with the construction and landscape industry. He is also one of the founding members and Treasurer of the South Australian Stone Sculptors Association (SASSA) and helps run regular Limestone Carving Workshops under the banner of SASSA.

               It is only in recent years that a formal training pathway into stonemasonry has been established in South Australia. Thus, even though Evan has operated in the industry for 25 years, he has just completed his Certificate lll training in Traditional Stonemasonry with private training organisation Flexible Construction Training and Assessment (FCTA), making him the oldest and most experienced locally qualified stonemason in Adelaide. He is also currently a student undertaking the inaugural certificate lll in Heritage Trade Skills offered by FCTA as well.

                 Previously Evan has won awards as a tradesperson in the construction sector and has exhibited his modelling and sculpting skills in various studios around Adelaide. He is the inaugural winner of the Peoples Choice award at the 2015 Sculptors at Crystal Lake event. Evan has also graduated with a science degree from Flinders University majoring in Environmental Ecology