Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Sculptor Sam Finkelstein, left, one of the three guest sculptors at this year's Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, and Kaitlyn Peters, a NISS intern from the N.H. Institute of Art in Manchester, use power tools to form giant hands out of Danby, Vermont marble while working this week at the Picker Artists studios. The closing ceremonies are set for Saturday. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

NASHUA – June 12 seemed so far off back in mid-May, when members of several local arts-related groups and three special guests were making final preparations for the May 20 opening of this year’s Nashua International Sculpture Symposium.

But now, after spending hours upon hours transforming blocks and slabs of marble, granite and other raw materials into captivating, thought-provoking artwork, the three guest sculptors, a local intern and the symposium’s artistic director are preparing to unveil their labors of love to the public.

Everyone is invited to come to the closing ceremonies, which begin at 1 p.m. Saturday outside of 6 Church St., the same location where the opening ceremonies took place back in May.

There’s no charge to attend, but guests will be required to wear face masks, just to be on the safe side, organizers said.

The artists, naturally, will be there for the ceremonies, and will be happy to discuss their work and experiences and answer questions.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Gavin Kenyon, one of the three guest sculptors participating in this year's Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, hoses off some of the components of the sculpture he is creating while working outside the Picker Artists studios this week. The closing ceremonies are scheduled for Saturday. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

Visitors will get the chance to see the sculptures up close once they are unveiled.

The theme of this year’s symposium, which debuted in 2008 making this year its 14th annual event, was “Instrospection.”

It was chosen in light of the fact that the artists, “like so many other people, have had to largely be isolated from others during the pandemic,” said symposium spokeswoman Allegra Boverman, of City Arts Nashua.

“Artists, even if they do work alone, usually have a chance to show and exhibit their work and interact with others, but that wasn’t possible during the pandemic,” she added.

But this year, with pandemic-related restrictions finally lifting, the artists were able to “work near one another in the outdoor studio space” that was set up along the length of the Picker Artists building on Pine Street extension, Boverman said.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Boston-based sculptor Nora Valdez, a native of Argentina and one of the three guest sculptors at this year's Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, does some detail work on a portion of her project this week. The symposium's closing ceremonies are set for Saturday. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

The artists have also been able to “confer together … look at one another’s work, eat together, and experience various weather conditions together.”

Spectators were plentiful as well, something that wasn’t the case last year.

“There has been a lot of interest from the public coming to watch the artists at work, take photos and speak with the artists daily,” Boverman said.

Also new this year was a children’s project called “1,000 Cranes for Nashua,” in which children and families folded 1,000 origami cranes that were put on display at St. Joseph Hospital.

Also participating this year were Londonderry resident Kaitlyn Peters, an intern from the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, and Jim Larson, of Contoocook, the symposium’s artistic director and an interdisciplinary artist whose work seeks to explore and expand methods of art creation and presentation.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Sam Finkelstein, sculptor from Rockland, Maine who is one of the three guest sculptors at this year's Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, works on three of the "fingers" of one of the two large "hands" he is creating out of Vermont marble. The symposium's closing ceremonies are scheduled for Saturday. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

Brief biographies of the guest sculptors follow.

* Nora Valdez, from Argentina, now living in Boston

Born and raised in Argentina, Valdez earned the title of professor of Fine Arts in 1982, and began showing her work throughout Argentina, winning prizes and critical acclaim. She would move to Brazil, and later, to Europe, where she worked in Italy, then moved to Zaragoza, Spain, where she started working in marble. She has shown her work at the Fuller Museum of Art, the DeCordova museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, among several other venues in Massachusetts.

When she returned to Boston in 2004, she was invited to carve at the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline – the studio operated by sculptor John Weidman that was central to the founding of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium several years later.

* Samuel Finkelstein, Rockland, Maine

A 2014 graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he majored in art with a concentration in painting, Finkelstein moved to New York City to work in the David Zwirner Gallery as an art handler. During that time, he created his own art, eventually moving into a studio. He fell in love with Maine while vacationing there, and moved to Rockland, where he founded Babyman Studio and turned his focus to sculpting.

* Gavin Kenyon, New York

Gavin Kenyon is a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in New York City and Syracuse University. Since 2002 he has shown his work in numerous exhibits throughout the eastern United States.

His work centers on sculpture, in abstract works possessing a biomorphic quality. Drawing inspiration from the area he grew up in, the forests of Upstate New York, Kenyon’s bulbous sculptural forms in cement, wool, and other organic materials are rooted in George Bataille’s concept of Informe (1929).

Finkelstein, meanwhile, said that as a “big proponent of no-barrier access to art,” it was “exciting to know my sculpture will live out in Nashua.

“There’s been a strong dynamism working amongst other talented sculptors,” Finkelstein said, adding that “the hot days set the tone for high-intensity creative energy.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.