Sky Watch

The lead up to most of my projects can take months of correspondence and cogitation. That’s alright with me because it allows time for my dreams and desires to grow and wither, or grow and flourish, as they will, before the first stone is picked up and put down. Now and then, an offer to do a project will pop up and within a matter of days things start to happen. Such was the case with this construction, begun yesterday and completed today. The stones, Monkton quartzite and Panton limestone, were leftovers from masonry work previously done on the home. The site was the back yard with a wide view of the Champlain Valley. The customer’s wish was to have a place to sit for stargazing.

DSWA Test Day in Vermont

If you went looking for a bunch of guys building stone walls you probably wouldn’t start under an old barn, but that’s where you would have found them today in Dummerston, Vermont. The former milking parlor at Scott Farm has been transformed into a top-notch training and testing site. Eight wallers from as far north as Minnesota and as far south as North Carolina were taking their Level 1 and 2, Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain, certification tests.

Dry Stone, Dry Stone Walling, StoneDan SnowMay 1, 2011art, dswa, dswa test, dummerston, stone, stone trust, stoneworks, vermont

The Stone Fence at the Eighth Hole

Work on the 8th hole stone fence at Cochecho Country Club in Dover, New Hampshire ended on a bright note yesterday with sunny skies. The golfers were out in droves. It will be interesting to see how the new wall becomes part of course play. A ball that hits the wall will ricochet toward the green instead of bounding, as it would have previously, into the rough. In any case, Brian and I are happy to be out of the line of fire from long drives gone astray.

A Day at Green Mountain College

It’s not every school where you can see chickens free-ranging on the lacrosse field during a practice, but Green Mountain College isn’t every school. During a recent visit to Poultney, Vermont to lecture and instruct a walling workshop at the college I discovered a vibrant educational community that’s leading the way in environmental studies. The eight students I worked with were a ready and willing group. They quickly grasped the concepts and principles of dry stone wall construction and jumped right into building. By the end of the afternoon they had laid up a 24 foot long section of retaining wall using slate cut-offs from a local quarry/fabricator.

Stone Hunting

After the snow has gone and before the leaves bud out there’s a pause between seasons that’s just right for exploring the woods. Because the forest floor litter has yet to rebound from its recent compaction from the weight of snow, land shapes are clearly defined. Ancient trees have left evidence of their former stature in the earth pillows and cradles created by their toppling and uprooting. Dark, moist ledge outcrops and loose stone screes stand out on dry slopes. Stone fences, once lining high meadows, now stand only as a testament to a bygone sheep farmer’s singular tenacity.

Dry Stone, Dry Stone WallingDan SnowApril 19, 2011art, bear, landscape, spring, stone, stone fences, stone screes, stoneworks

A Galloway Wall in Dover

An inch of rain isn’t the best way to start a new job, but that’s what I got Wednesday in Dover, New Hampshire where I was beginning construction at a golf course. The original fence ran alongside of an old town road. Its remnants had been pulled down by the course maintenance crew and a new footing established away from the tree line. By Thursday afternoon the clouds lifted and the wind began to dry the mud. Friday was beautifully sunny.

Dry Stone, Dry Stone Walling, StoneDan SnowApril 17, 2011art, dover, dry stone walls, galloway wall, new hampshire, stone, stoneworks

Rock Rest

Three days this week were devoted to dismantling and reassembling a sculpture titled ‘Rock Rest’. The piece was designed and constructed last December at my stone yard with the intention that it would eventually be installed at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center’s new sculpture garden. On Sunday I numbered and catalogued the 50+ stones in the piece and transported them, by five truck and trailer loads, seven miles to Brattleboro. The stones were spread out across the parking lot in preparation for placement in the piece.

Event Postponed - Working With Stone: Creating A Connection With The Spirit Of Place

The gardener's perspective is the perfect loci for seeking inward and reaching outward, for ordering the experience of time and space, and observing higher orders. Garden makers and stone workers channel the power of nature through their imagination where it is interpreted and transformed through action.

Artscaping: Design and Installation of Land-made Sculpture

This Thursday I will be at New England Grows! in Boston to present Artscaping: Design and Installation of Land-made Sculpture. The talk will be accompanied by slides detailing the process of identifying the artistic possibilities of outdoor space. Case studies of built works, from conception in 3-D scale models to finished installations, will be highlighted. For those looking to move their landscape horizons beyond the next hill, please join me for this entertaining and thought provoking presentation.

Dry Stone Walling, Environmental Art, LectureDan SnowJanuary 31, 2011art, artscaping, lecture, new england grows, stone, stoneworks

The Sheep Shed

The Sheep Shed resides at the convergence of two paths trodden into the hillside by many generations of sheep hooves. Three dry stone walls, built from cobbles and boulders selected from a gravel pit, support oak timbers. A light weight network of spruce log poles rests on the frame. In ascending layers, thick slabs of flat stone from a quarry in Goshen, Massachusetts cover the pole rafters. The roof stones are not affixed in any way. They are held in place by the sheer weight of their collective mass. Twenty tons of stone float over the void of the sheep shed interior.

Dummerston Historical Society Open House on August 20th in Dummerston Center

The re-creation of the Dummerston, VT town pound is coming along. Volunteer Days in the past month have brought the south wall up to where it now has a "squeeze stile" (staircase). On August 20, anyone interested is welcome to stop by before and during the Historical Society Open House to put a stone or two on the wall.

Jared Flynn and I will be there from 5 to 7:30 working on the wall. We'd be happy to answer questions and help those who'd like to do a little walling.

Dry Stone Walling, WorkshopDan SnowAugust 10, 2009art, stone, stone wall workshop, stoneworks

Stone Workshop - Dummerston VT

Discounting the pesky black flies, weather and working conditions were ideal for the Dummerston town pound walling weekend. Sixteen participants under the direction of myself, Andrew Pighills and Jared Flynn created forty foot of four foot high fence wall, a corner and a cheekend. The pound is now enclosed on nearly three sides. The gate opening makes a fine entrance to the interior space. Thanks to all who worked so carefully and well laying stone.

Stone Tour September 2007

The third annual tour of the work of Dan Snow was hosted by the Great River Arts Institute. The self-guided tour took place under sunny autumn skies on Saturday, September 29, 2007 in and around Brattleboro, Guilford and Halifax, Vermont.

Art, Dry Stone WallingDan SnowOctober 3, 2007art, stone, stoneworks, dan snow art, dan snow stoneworks, dan snow

Stone Workshop - September 2007

Blessed with with sunny skies, warm temperatures, a cooling breeze, and a wonderful location in Dummerston Center, 22 participants worked and learned together, creating several beautiful stone constructions and walls, under the direction of Travis Callahan, Andrew Pighills and Dan Snow.

Dry Stone, Dry Stone Walling, Stone, WorkshopDan SnowSeptember 26, 2007art, stone, stoneworks