Getting to work with skilled professionals under the direction of an artist who takes great joy in the making of things is pure delight for me. This week I was again on Hogpen Hill with Edward Tufte creating monumental lithic assemblages. From time to time, over the past year, I’ve gone to western Connecticut to collaborate with my stone-loving colleague. With each session, we’ve explored new ways to combine large stones with the landscape. The stones are dug up from just under the surface of the ground near the assembly points. Each “foundling” is a gift of unique shape and texture bringing with it another possibility for construction.

Our wish to make real the ideas suggested by the shapes of the stones is only possible because of the sure hands and sharp eyes of the equipment operators. Tom, John, Frank and Robbie’s balletic movement with their machinery is poetry in motion. And on the periphery of the building site is Larry and his logging crew. Their tactical strikes, often at a moment’s notice, give us the space we need to realize our vision.

While I’m engrossed in the activity of choosing, chaining and setting stone, Edward is engaged in seeing three-space (E.T.'s term). His edits and adjustments to the constructions, as we build, refines the space and light relationships developing amid the assemblages and their surroundings.