My time in the eye of the stone has passed. Yesterday saw the final vertical pieces set in the Horse Eye sculpture. Phase One is complete except for two elements being carved by Chris Curtis of West Branch Gallery in Stowe, Vermont. They will be lowered into place at a later date, replacing the styrofoam mock-ups (visible in the photo). The carved pieces will represent the “third eyelid.” The third eyelid of a horse is the lightning-fast flap that zips across from the inner corner to seal the eye shut against threat even before the lids can close. It's also the source of lubricating tears.

Phase Two will include a boulder that was discovered on the property. It will represent the dark pupil of the eye. A natural quartz rosetta on its surface is the pupil’s “Nigra” (pronounced NYE-grah); the round shape in the pupil of a horse’s eye that serves as a built-in visor, shielding interior eye structures from excess glare. The pupil will be set in a surround of edge-stone construction representing the iris. The Phase Two piece will rest near the sculpture but will remain separate from it until a day in the distant future when they will be joined together.

More horse eye facts: the horse’s eye is the largest of any land mammal’s. It magnifies everything fifty percent larger than we perceive it. 

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