Etched in stone

Andy Del Gallo’s work memorializes the dead and lets him carve his living out of stone.

The stonecarving artist and co-owner of Eastern Memorials has been designing, etching, engraving and chiseling monuments and memorials for more than 15 years.

“To do artwork in honor of someone’s loved one — what else could you ask for,” Mr. Del Gallo says.

He wants to help change the look of cemeteries — bringing them back to the way they used to be, with intricately designed and uniquely hand-carved memorials.

On this day, Mr. Del Gallo begins in Falls Church, where the company’s shop is tucked away on the grounds of National Memorial Park. He meets with the shop foreman to discuss the details of a cross-shaped memorial. They discuss how the flowers will be shaped and what techniques should be used to create the intricate pattern.

“A mistake on a stone is a painful one,” Mr. Del Gallo says. “You can’t put an eraser on it.”

While at the shop, Mr. Del Gallo sets up two stones to be carved later that day. He lays out rubber stencils over the stones that will guide another carver to make precise incisions. By late morning, he is on his way to his Manassas sales office about 20 miles away.

He will go back to the shop the next day to work on the cross-shaped memorial again. He needs to cut two flat panels at the base of the cross to make room for more writing to be carved on the memorial.

Mr. Del Gallo, who lives in Manassas, travels between his shop in Falls Church and his office daily. That will change soon, when Eastern Memorials builds a 45-by-84-foot shop next to the Manassas office. The shop will be open within a few months.

His Manassas office is full of examples of stone carvings, techniques and blank memorials. Some hand-drawn sketches of flowers, a little girl and decorative borders are scattered on Mr. Del Gallo’s desk. His computer is the central point, with a massive screen for him and a smaller screen facing the client’s chair.

Technology has enabled Mr. Del Gallo to show clients almost immediately what a memorial would look like. He can sketch a drawing and scan it into the computer to show exactly how it would appear on the stone.

Mr. Del Gallo likes when clients “think outside the box” and use more of his artistic skill rather than “cookie-cutter” designs. He wants clients to think about all the possibilities.

“You can’t summarize a human being on a stone,” Mr. Del Gallo said. “You can just touch on their attributes.”

Sometimes the conversations with clients are emotional. They can be therapeutic for both the grieving family and for Mr. Del Gallo.

“I get a daily reminder today may be my last,” he said.

Mr. Del Gallo estimates the company is working on at least 40 granite and bronze memorials — all of which are at various stages of completion, from preliminary design to installation.

The average cost of a memorial is about $2,200 for granite and $1,600 for bronze.

Mr. Del Gallo started in the monument business in 1988 at a shop in Arlington, where he learned the trade. While there, he designed many memorials honoring veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

After about 10 years, Mr. Del Gallo says he was “dying artistically” and wanted to get out on his own. He joined forces with his business partner, Kevin Roustazad, who handles bronze work for Eastern Memorials.

Now Mr. Del Gallo handles some prestigious jobs, including a renovation project at the U.S. Treasury building, the lettering on the George Mason National Memorial and a hand-carved tribute to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

Mr. Del Gallo has not designed his own memorial and does not plan to. He said memorials are meant to be created by the grieving family and friends.

“Memorials are more for the living, not the one who left,” Mr. Del Gallo says.