Stone Clouds Materialized

Getting myself out of the trouble I put myself in is the objective. The final product may be an art piece but that’s not the half of it. Problem making and problem solving is the bulk of the trade.

The shape of a project is pointy at opposite ends and lumpy in the middle. The spark that starts things off may be as quick and simple as seeing a cornstalk-stubbled field sprinkled with the till of a bygone glacier, and thinking, “What would it take to put those stones back up into the sky from whence they fell?” In between that thought and standing under Stone Clouds at Shelburne Museum yesterday was a year-long ride’s worth of lumps and bumps. The unknown is an uneven landscape. Highs are best employed to gain speed for the roll up out of the lows ahead. Uncertainty provides its own propulsion.

A vision leads to the need to produce it. The need feeds the means. The means form the process. The process shapes the activity. And before you know it, there are fifty elementary school students sitting in a circle anxiously waiting to hear how they’ll soon be turning rocks into clouds.

Shelburne Museum, Vermont Land Trust, Charlotte Elementary School and the Vermont Arts Council are the organizational titles, umbrella terms, for the fine work that’s done under them. I want to express my thanks and great appreciation to all those who have supported the cause of realizing Stone Clouds for the ‘Eyes on the Land’ exhibition, opening October 3rd. Here are the names of some of the folks who have brought it to pass, with apologies to any of those I may have missed.

CHARLOTTE SCHOOL- Ena Jesset & the Architect Team, Marlie Cartwright. SHELBURNE MUSEUM-Tom Denenberg, Kory Rogers, Suzanne Zaner, Karen Peterson, Nicole DeSmet, Chip Stulen. VERMONT LAND TRUST- Cara Gauthier, Kenny Leach, Donald Campbell, Susan Abbott, Elise Annes, Jay Stearns. VERMONT ARTS COUNCIL- Alex Aldrich, Zon Eastes, Troy Hickman, Sonia Rae.

And for those counting, there are 251 stones in the clouds. One stone for each Vermont township.

Stone Clouds is funded, in part, by a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.