The zig-zag wall at Hogpen Farms has taken its final turn. Five entrance/exit ramps provide communication with the elevated wall top. A path, wide enough for a person and a dog to pass each other along its length, weaves its way across a forest glade.
Read MoreI’m pleased to announce that my competition proposal to create a sculpture on the grounds of Central Oregon Community Collegehas been selected by the Art Acquisitions Committee. The 201-acre Bend campus, with views of the beautiful Cascade mountains, has been growing since the 1960’s. Over 18,000 students are enrolled at COCC this academic year. This is my first stone art commission west of the Rockies. I’m very excited to be creating a piece in, of and for the great Northwest.
Read MoreBlustery winds carried a host of folks into ET Modern Gallery for my presentation, ‘Stone and Art in Nature’ on Saturday. So many of them were old friends that it felt more like a party than a slide show. Edward Tufte’s Chelsea gallery is a fantastic venue for informal get-togethers. His latest sculpture series, “All Possible Photons”, shimmers and shadow-dances on the walls.
Read MoreBeing chosen as a finalist in a competition, and asked to submit a sculpture proposal, got me thinking. Here’s an institution of higher learning looking for a piece of art to grace the exterior of a new building on their campus. What could I offer that would enrich the sensory experience of students, faculty, staff and visitors? Equally important, how could a sculpture settle comfortably into the physical constraints of its surroundings? Landscape architect Todd Lynch and I put our heads together and came up with a proposal, now being reviewed, that I hope answers these questions.
Read MoreUnlike the majority of the world’s art pieces, displayed in controlled settings of four walls and artificial lighting, environmental art works are not fixed in time or static in space. They develop a life of their own beyond their moment of creation. To view a piece of environmental art over a span of time is to connect what was known with what is new, to accept what’s been lost and celebrate what’s been found.
Read MoreAnother spurt of mild weather found me back in Connecticut for more work on Hogpen Hill. Chuck, Jared, Matt and Brian joined me in continuing the walling events begun on the previous visit, three weeks ago, and in starting something new. Edward Tufte’s thinking about what he’d like done on his land evolves as the work progresses. Derelict portions of old agricultural fence are being removed and replaced with dry stone features that introduce new elements of light and shadow to their lengths. The traditional concept of a wall creating a barrier between spaces is turned inside out.
Read MoreThe dates have been set for the two English Harbour Arts Centre workshops I will be instructing this coming summer. Five-day and two-day long courses, July 29 - August 2 and August 4 -5, will focus on constructing new dry stone walls on the grounds of the art centre. The finished works will represent pieces of a grand puzzle that EHAC hopes to realize in the near future. The dream is to build a dry stone maze on the majestic headlands of Trinity Bay.
Read MoreAn unexpected weather-window opened up this week allowing Chuck, Jared and I to begin work on a new project. A wooded mountaintop plateau in western Connecticut is the site of an art and nature park being created by Edward Tufte. His monumental sculptures already grace the open meadows at the south end of the property. Now, a series of new dry stone walls has begun to appear along the north end of the mountain spine. Edward and I co-direct the design and layout. A team of DSWA certified craftsmen build the walls and feature pieces.
Read MoreThis Sunday, the "Authors of Dummerston” exhibit opens at the Historical Society Schoolhouse. The exhibit will showcase local writers. I am honored to be a part of an exhibit that includes not only Rudyard Kipling but many talented living writers as well. Stop by and check it out if you are anywhere nearby.
Read MorePoet Wendell Berry advises those who practice his craft to “make poems that don’t disturb the silence from which they come.” The same suggestion could be made to the builders of environmental art because their work is often performed in places that are already perfectly at peace. Creators of outdoor art risk disturbing an existing balance when they go to work on the land. Artists in the environment might achieve their finest work by doing nothing more than pointing out the facts of what is already there. But then again, that may be work best left to poets.
Read MoreGoing back through the year 2011 in my iPhoto files, I was drawn to those depicting family and friends, new and old. A collection of recollections dear to my heart. From maple sugaring season and projects at home in Vermont and New England, to travels in Finland, Newfoundland, Norway and Denmark, the fun began when we all got together.
Read MoreDespite temperatures in the 20’s Fahrenheit and a steady north wind, progress continued this week on the stone eye sculpture. The guide frame and 6” grid are in place, waiting now for a day warm enough to allow bare fingers to function properly for hanging the lines and weights that will establish the ‘points in space’ needed to begin the stone construction.
Read MoreWhile wallers in east-central USA have had the excellent Dry Stone Conservancy as a beacon for the craft for many years, stone workers in the northeast have had to go it on their own. Until now. After only one year in existence, The Stone Trust has become an important regional resource for all things dry stone.
Read MoreOn site in Morrisville, I outlined the piece with sticks and ribbon to get a sense of its presence on the land, began excavation and finished the foundation work. The stonework will rest on a 3’ deep base of crushed stone. When completed, the sculpture will enclose two burial plots. The addition of a sand-filled,wood coffer will allow the second grave to be easily hand-dug at a future date.
Read MoreToday I’m transferring information from 60 pages of data onto a master plan for the stone-eye construction. Corner points in a grid of 6” squares are given numerical values that correspond to their position on the surface of the sculpture. The 32’ diameter sculpture will require more than 3,000 points-in-space to guide the construction.
Read MoreEvery new idea leads to an adventure. In the past when I’ve wanted to record and transfer “points-in-space” from a clay model to a full scale construction I’ve made a grid-style guide frame and physically measured the distance from the frame to the surface of the model. To build the horse eye sculpture I will need thousands of measurements on a 6”x6” grid. My new idea was to find someone who could digitally scan the model for the measurements I would need.
Read MoreMy next project is a piece of figurative sculpture in the landscape. It’s an art piece and a piece of utility. The dry stone construction will enclose a burial site on private property in north-central Vermont. A former horse pasture will be the site of a memorial in the shape of a horse’s eye. In phase 1, the shape will be open to the grave plots. In phase 2, to be completed at an unknown time in the future, the central portion will be covered over with a dry stone mound that will represent the iris of the eye. Completed, the crypt will be sealed by the polished pupil of a heavenward-gazing eye.
Read MoreWilliamsville is a village in the town of Newfane, Vermont, just three miles, as the crow flies, from my home in Dummerston. While we had little, or no, damage in our town from flooding in September, Irene devastated the Williamsville area. The Rock River rose 18’ above its normal level. A 200’ length of 5’ high dry stone retaining wall, built in the 19th century, as part of an extensive water-powered industrial site, was swallowed up in the torrent. When flood waters receded, the wall was no more. Only the largest stones escaped being swept downstream.
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