About myself
She is a practical sculptress whose primary work has been commissions for sculptures and inscriptions for signs and grave markers. Simone presently works in limestone, sandstone, marble, alabaster, onyx, soapstone, and granite and has recently added the art of felt making to her repertoire. Her most successful sculptures to date are her two children, Alexander and Tegan .
Born in Solothurn Switzerland, she grew up in a rural Swiss village. She was raised in a family which loved to travel, with a mother whose creative talents where in evidence everywhere throughout their home and a father whose spiritual interests guided the family. Simone’s creativity began early and was encouraged and developed further through her later school years at a Waldorf School, where she graduated. Upon graduation she started a 4-year apprenticeship as a Stone Sculptor, although prior to this she had considered pursuing the path to becoming a teacher.
Her apprenticeship as a professional stone sculptor lasted four years. It involved attending art School in Bern as well as on-the job training. For the first 2 years work was restricted to hand tools in order to produce an intimate knowledge of the tools and materials. Simone worked with sandstone, limestone, marble and granite. She learned everything from the basic dressing of a stone, designing and sculpting of a relief or three-dimensional piece to moving large sculptures. Solving site problems, the important details of engraved and raised letters, lead and gold inscription and even how to make her own tools were all part of the program. Sculpting was done either free hand, from a maquette or with the help of a pointing device. Subjects in the art School curriculum included: architecture past and present, geology, interior and exterior design, calligraphy, extensive studies in drawing and design, book keeping, political law, correspondence.
After receiving her papers as a stonesculptress, she felt she deserved a break and spent a year traveling in North America, particularly in Canada where she had been a citizen since birth. She returned to Switzerland to continue working as a professional sculptress. After a year she moved to Canada to marry and settle on Thetis Island, a small Gulf Island off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Here the Luckhams built first Simone's Studio and then their home.
She taught art at Island Oak High School in Duncan until 2014 and is now giving private art lessons to families on Thetis Island and offering classes to adults who are interested in the process of art making.
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Simone Weber - Luckham
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the Sea"
Inspired by Antoine de Saint Exupery