In January, a bunch of stone aficionados visited Gualala for the Stone Foundation's Stone Symposium 2016. I was delighted that many of them were able to see the dry stone structures I've had the great pleasure of building there over the last seven years.
This trail is the old stagecoach road near Anchor Bay that goes through the client's property. In 2009, I was asked to design and build a stagecoach house here, as a kind of fanciful reminiscence of what might have been, in the style of a dry stone ruins
After coming up with the design, I invited two friends, Patrick Callon and Dean McLellan on board to participate in the first phase of the project.
Patrick Callon who taught landscaping and masonry at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario did a lot of work on this project during this, the initial phase.
Peter, my client, and his helper Jerry were instrumental in getting material up the muddy stagecoach road to the site...
and also help in lifting the big lintel stones in place with the Gradal.
The design changed as the sizes and shapes of material that could be brought up the stage coach road began to dictate how the structure would need to be built.
The first phase was completed in 2009
In 2010, Dave Claman came on board as my new helper and together he and I completed the rest of the building as well as the two outer terraces over a period of two weeks.
The stagecoach ruins pictured here just after completion in 2010, has now been seen by many visitors and appears in several books.
The ruins have taken on a special meaning for me. They represent a transition from traditional walling to the envisioning and constructing of imaginary garden installations and ultimately to various structural sculptures.
