As steeped in history as it is, dry stone construction isn’t a traditional building technology. It’s actually a pre-traditional art, predating known cultures and societies. It’s much older than old-fashioned.

Among the earliest hand tools identified by archeologists are stones hewn into nearly ideal spheres. Their shapes go beyond that required for utility, making them 1.5 million year-old art objects.

Pre-traditional arts exemplify the deeply human desire for aesthetic gratification. First comes an appreciation for things of beauty already existing in nature, and from that spring the creative impulses that lead to the making of something drawn from the imagination. 

The pre-traditional arts represent humankind’s wish to live in earth’s all-encompassing embrace.

In my land art work I try to get past the last few millennia to when innovation was driven by mind-play and forms emerged from the unconscious hand. It’s an impossible dream that makes its pursuit all the more enticing. 

If the rock scramble and stone sculpture I recently constructed for East End Park in Woodstock, Vermont looks a little like it could have been the result of coincidental events visited on the landscape, then I’ve succeeded in realizing my dream for it. 

Many months of planning and preparation preceded the week of installation with Archie and Archie of A.S.Clark and Sons Excavation. Sustainable Woodstock EEP committee members Jobi, Barbara, Mary and Jack kept the organizational wheels turning throughout. Peter Butler and Jared Flynn put finishing touches on the surroundings. Thanks to all for their dedicated work.

“The whole point is, my dear fellow, that when the world ceases to be miraculous in the eyes of our children, then there is very little left,“ said Steiner.
- Halldor Laxness, Paradise Reclaimed