Stone Eye - Hot Horse Hide

Laboring in stone-craft is sweaty business even when the summer air temperature is moderate. Ramp the heat up to 95° F (35° C), add the radiant heat steaming off the stones, and I find myself working in a veritable, solar bake oven. The perspiration really starts to flow. Dust swirling around the site sticks to damp clothing and exposed skin. I look like a coal miner by the end of the day. I’m not complaining, though. Extreme heat is preferred over cold. My aging muscles and joints definitely perform better in summer weather.

ArtDan SnowJune 26, 2012featured, morrisville, sculpture, stone, stone eye, vermont

Stone Hunting for the Tarriance

Stone hunting for The Tarriance sculpture project recently took me on a 1,300 mile, Oregon road trip. The trail led across dry shrub-lands, over evergreen-spired mountain passes, and along deep river gorges. In the west, three basalt boulders were located in a riverside gravel pit. In the east, slag from an abandoned granite quarry netted the thirty pieces I’ll use to construct the “raft” that the boulders will rest upon.

The Stone Eye - Nature All Around

While nature abounds all around I try to focus on the work at hand. The methodical labor of setting vertical stone to shape the sculpture requires a steady concentration. Each piece has to slot in between previously set stones, and has to be bedded in the crushed stone so that the top face aligns with the developing form. On the highest portions of the work, I measure the next space to be filled, climb down to find an appropriate stone, hammer shape it if necessary, and climb back up to set it.

Woodland Dolmens

It was excavator ballet at Hogpen Hill Farms this week. I had four machines at my disposal for the assembly of stone structures. Under Edward Tufte’s direction, the polite march of table tops created during previous sessions evolved into a stagger of dolmens. The new pieces, inspired by ancient lithic structures, progressed south along a wooded ridge-line in combinations of two, three and four stones.

Summer Dry Stone Walling Workshops in Newfoundland

A collaborative design process culminating in the hands-on creation of a dry stone structure. Instruction in design will include site assessment, 3-D modeling and guide frame set up. Instruction in building with loose stone will include identifying each stone’s best use, applying the four basic principles for strong construction, and practicing safe methods for shifting and lifting stone. One day of the workshop will be devoted to working in nature to create a temporary environmental art piece.

The Stone Eye - Three Dry Stone Building Styles

Showers every day added up to 2” of precipitation and sloppy working conditions at the stone eye project this week. Safety glasses fogged and the mud sucked at my boots but I was glad to be outside making progress on the construction. The lead-sinker hanging guide-point system is proving to be very reliable and flexible. When I need to move a group of points out of the way to pitch stone into the center, I simply swing them up to the wire grid and hook them there temporarily. As I finish an area of stone work I unclip and remove the point lines.

ArtDan SnowMay 13, 2012dry stone, dry stone walling, morrisville, sculpture, stone, stone eye, vermont

Stone Eye Passage Roof Stones

A recent chance drive-by along Vermont Route 15 led to the discovery of Jeffersonville Quarry, and a way forward with the stone eye. In less than 36 hours, I’d sourced stone for vaulting the ceiling of the passage, ordered the pieces (which were quickly quarried out by Ken Gillilan) trucked them to the building site, and installed them.

ArtDan SnowMay 6, 2012jeffersonville quarry, morrisville, quarry, sculpture, stone, stone eye, vermont

Gardening on Graniite

In late autumn of 2011 Gordon Hayward called to say that Teddy Berg had asked him to write a book about her gardens on Rice Mountain in Walpole, New Hampshire. He wanted to know if I’d care to contribute a few essays, and, of course, I said I’d be pleased and honored to do so. ‘Gardening on Granite’ is hot off the presses this month. It’s a large-format book packed with gorgeous photographs and a lovingly told, personal history of a very special place and time.

Stone Eye, Hot and Dry

Clouds are banking in from the west, bringing the first significant precipitation to Vermont in months. April’s weather has felt positively ‘Southern Californian.’ Under intense sunshine, in powder dry conditions, I got started laying stone on the Stone Eye Project this past week.

ArtDan SnowApril 23, 2012morrisville, parallelepipeds, phylite, sculpture, stone, stone eye, vermont

Sand Trap Zen

I laid up another length of Galloway style wall reusing the stone from an adjacent derelict wall. The beauty of what Tony had in mind when he called me last year to begin the project is now clear. With the original wall line shifted away from the trees that had grown up in it, the new wall and mature trees have space to breathe.

ArtDan SnowApril 15, 2012cochecho golf club, dover, dry stone wall, galloway wall, new hampshire, stone

Woodland Stone Tables

Another dry stone landform has begun to take shape at Hogpen Hill Farms. Three dozen “tables” have been assembled along one of the long ribs that constitute the high ground in the woodland park. The directive by Edward Tufte for this piece is to create the illusion of stones floating along the ridge top when viewed from the low ground along each side of the rib, and to establish a strong linear pattern from the bird’s eye view.

Dry Stone Wall Workshops at The Stone Trust in Dummerston Vermont

A physically challenging and intellectually stimulating day of group, outdoor activity that’s not a competitive sport? Yes, it’s possible, and happening this spring on the bucolic grounds of Scott Farm, Dummerston, VT. The Stone Trust is offering workshops in the time-honored craft of building dry stone walls. Participants come from all walks of life to develop and sharpen their skill in creating structurally sound, “stone-only” constructions.

Art, WorkshopDan SnowMarch 25, 2012dry stone wall workshop, dry stone walling, dummerston, stone, stone trust, vermont, workshop

The Zig Zag Wall Takes a Final Turn

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.

ArtDan SnowMarch 23, 2012art, art and nature park, connecticut, dry stone walling, edward tufte, et modern, installation, project, stone

The Tarriance

I’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.

ET Modern Gallery Presentation - Stone and Art in Nature

Blustery 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.

Art, LectureDan SnowFebruary 28, 2012art, edward tufte, et modern, nature, nyc, sculpture, stone, stone and art in nature

The Tarriance Sculpture Proposal

Being 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.

ArtDan SnowFebruary 14, 2012art, competition, oregon, sculpture, tarriance

Diamond Mines Frosted with Snow

Unlike 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.

Art, SculptureDan SnowFebruary 8, 2012art, denmark, environmental art, landscape art, langeland, sculpture, tickon, tranekaer castle park

Light and Shadow Boxed in Stone

Another 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.