Dear Carl and Kathy
I am writing this letter to say thankyou for letting us visit Calucci Land.
You have bug dreams and hope you never give up on them. Mabey when im a bit older I'll come down and see if your dreams have become reality.
You show heaps and heaps of enthusiasm and youd do what you think is cool, you dont follow the crowd. I didnt even know that there was a job involving rocks and now i think its a pretty cool thing to do,
Sothankyou Carl and Kathy. for showing us around Carlucci land its a place I'll never forget.
Your Sincerly
Ryan Andrews
Dear Carl and Kathy
On behalf of the year 7 and 8s at Omokorou point school I would like to thankyou for giving us an awesome tour around your amazing place, carlucci land. I thought your rock sculptures were breath taking especially the dragon you made but the sculpture I enjoyed most was the two boulders that made up New Zealand. It must have taken you forever to find the right shapes.
I really look forward to when your art gallery and theme park opens up, It will be so interesting and fun. Once again I would like to thankyou for this amazing oppurtunity you have gave us to visit you.
Yours sincererly
Jessica Molesworth
Dear Carl
I woud like to thankyou for showing the year 7 and 8s around your fantastic sculptures you had some fantastic things. It was amazing how you can see faces on some sculptures. They are so big, it looks you have put alot of time and effort inot what you have done.
The year 7 and 8 have learnt alot from your sculptures and how rocks form in the water to make faces. It must be such a cool thing to have as a hobby.
You have an amazing imagination. I hope some day you will have hot pools a pitch and put and all the rest off wonderful dreams. All of the year 7 and 8 have had a fantastic time looking at your wonderful sculptures and we enjoyed every second of it.
Yours Sincerely Joel Alderson
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Inspiration Used to Carve Out An Opportunity
A Wellington man has turned his passion into the rock that he has built a career on.
Sometimes the work you were born to do can come from the most unexpected things and places.
When Carl Gifford left school he became a motor mechanic mainly because his father wanted him get a job and told him he had to choose before he was 10 what he was going to do for a living.
Being a motor mechanic did not really give him much satisfaction, so he switched to car wrecking, because it was a bit more lucrative. However, after trying that for a while he decided that wasn’t really him either.
Then one day what turned out to be his true calling leapt out at him.
“One day, I was driving around and I was inspired by some stone work I saw. I thought “that’s what I want to do.Before you know it, I was off to a quarry. “I started putting rocks together and thought “Hey! I’m good at this” Before you knew it I had someone ringing me up, saying “come and do this.”
Mr Gifford’s first stone sculpture can be seen at the Massey University campus in Wellington. It symbolises the struggle at Parihaka.
“It was quite a buzz for me that my very first sculpture was a very important sculpture.”
A stone mason by trade but no one sees the potential in rock like he does. “You stare at them all day and you start seeing faces in rocks and you say “ooh I can’t sell that one- that’s a Rottweiler ...Oh that’s the Virgin Mary”
“I see faces in rocks everywhere…all the time, even in the simplest of rocks…noses, faces…how weird is that?”
But as Placido Domingo once said, “When it becomes clear that no one else shares your level of passion, you are where you belong.”
And Mr Gifford certainly has carved out a special place for himself – inspiring and exciting all those who come across his works. His stone walls are in high demand and many are built for the rich and famous.
He has performed numerous jobs for the Wellington City Council beautifying the coastline, designed the baboon and tiger enclosure at Wellington Zoo, worked at Vogel house and is currently working on a big project for Peter Jackson.
However, what really seems to drive Mr Gifford is the passion and zest he has to make a world of pleasure for others.
The drive down Happy Valley road, between Owhiro Bay and Brooklyn, was anything but happy till his works of art started to appear along the roadside.
Several years ago he bought 25 hectares near the rubbish tip and started putting sculptures on it. “I’ve got big dreams for this place, but nobody believes them,” he says.
Not yet anyway. With his passion and determination, it will not be long till he realises his dream of expanding his empire, which he calls Carlucci Land, into a fun park for adults and children, where everyone regardless of age, can recapture the joy of child-like play.
Not surprisingly, his main office is inspired by the Flintstones and called Bedrock.
Too often people are afraid to stand out from the crowd. Often the innovative path is the path less followed but, as actress Drew Barrymore says "Originality is believing in your individuality, believing in yourself, and being willing to take risks, even though people might think you're weird for doing it."
Not only has Mr Gifford found a way to earn a living from his passion and create work that allows him to be true to himself, he has recaptured his youth in the process.
Sometimes the work you were born to do can come from the most unexpected things and places.
When Carl Gifford left school he became a motor mechanic mainly because his father wanted him get a job and told him he had to choose before he was 10 what he was going to do for a living.
Being a motor mechanic did not really give him much satisfaction, so he switched to car wrecking, because it was a bit more lucrative. However, after trying that for a while he decided that wasn’t really him either.
Then one day what turned out to be his true calling leapt out at him.
“One day, I was driving around and I was inspired by some stone work I saw. I thought “that’s what I want to do.Before you know it, I was off to a quarry. “I started putting rocks together and thought “Hey! I’m good at this” Before you knew it I had someone ringing me up, saying “come and do this.”
Mr Gifford’s first stone sculpture can be seen at the Massey University campus in Wellington. It symbolises the struggle at Parihaka.
“It was quite a buzz for me that my very first sculpture was a very important sculpture.”
A stone mason by trade but no one sees the potential in rock like he does. “You stare at them all day and you start seeing faces in rocks and you say “ooh I can’t sell that one- that’s a Rottweiler ...Oh that’s the Virgin Mary”
“I see faces in rocks everywhere…all the time, even in the simplest of rocks…noses, faces…how weird is that?”
But as Placido Domingo once said, “When it becomes clear that no one else shares your level of passion, you are where you belong.”
And Mr Gifford certainly has carved out a special place for himself – inspiring and exciting all those who come across his works. His stone walls are in high demand and many are built for the rich and famous.
He has performed numerous jobs for the Wellington City Council beautifying the coastline, designed the baboon and tiger enclosure at Wellington Zoo, worked at Vogel house and is currently working on a big project for Peter Jackson.
However, what really seems to drive Mr Gifford is the passion and zest he has to make a world of pleasure for others.
The drive down Happy Valley road, between Owhiro Bay and Brooklyn, was anything but happy till his works of art started to appear along the roadside.
Several years ago he bought 25 hectares near the rubbish tip and started putting sculptures on it. “I’ve got big dreams for this place, but nobody believes them,” he says.
Not yet anyway. With his passion and determination, it will not be long till he realises his dream of expanding his empire, which he calls Carlucci Land, into a fun park for adults and children, where everyone regardless of age, can recapture the joy of child-like play.
Not surprisingly, his main office is inspired by the Flintstones and called Bedrock.
Too often people are afraid to stand out from the crowd. Often the innovative path is the path less followed but, as actress Drew Barrymore says "Originality is believing in your individuality, believing in yourself, and being willing to take risks, even though people might think you're weird for doing it."
Not only has Mr Gifford found a way to earn a living from his passion and create work that allows him to be true to himself, he has recaptured his youth in the process.
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