By Jami Badershall,Staff Writer

AVON – Masonry is a dying art, but Stephen Mitchell hopes he can revive it.

The creator of the Maine School of Masonry, Mitchell teaches his students the skills needed in the brick, block and stone masonry fields. He opened the school a little more than one year ago in the former Lauri Toy Factory building at 637 Rangeley Road, which is also Route 4.

His students do several projects at the school, and those projects will be on display during an open house from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Maine School of Masonry.

Mitchell offers six sessions of adult- or community-education classes that meet for a three-hour class once a week for 10 weeks for people who want to do “projects around the home,” like building a brick barbecue or topping off their chimney, he said.

This September a full-time course – 32 hours per week for nine months – will begin for high school students or young adults who want to go into the field of masonry, not only as a trade but as an art.

“I’m trying to build the field of masonry back up,” Mitchell said. “We’re losing 1,500 to 2,000 masons a year, and we’re not filling those slots with anyone.”

He said trades like blacksmithing and plastering, which used to be common, are in a similar situation.

Along with classroom and lab instruction, Mitchell offers on-the-job training through his own contracting business, which is part of the school.

“I have three crews in my contracting business that go out and do the work,” he said.

When a student leaves the Maine School of Masonry’s full-time course, he or she will be able to enter the work force as an apprentice under an established mason or contractor. Were someone to try to move directly into the field without prior training, “they would have to work in the field for at least two years as a laborer,” Mitchell said. “Then if the mason or contractor feels they are qualified, they can become an apprentice.”

Mitchell has visited 27 vocational programs at high schools throughout the state to try and boost students’ interest in masonry. He said the “interest has been real high when it comes to the adult education classes, but I have to find the right students for a full-time class.”