Dry Scone Arch

 

Guarding The StoneZone Watch Tower

With Bow and Arrow

With a Stern Face

And with Low Gap Whiskey

 

Art is Nature is Art

The third phase of the outdoor dry stone gallery is completed. It is an unusual walled enclosure with a narrow hall, window, niches, and two sets of stairs. Found objects of iron and rock are displayed on the walls, along with other manmade works of art.  The installation combines art and natural stone, blurring the division between man's creativity and nature's. The centre 'sculpture' is a life-size, abstract, flowingly beautiful acquisition, sculpted and shaped by natural forces.  

The entire installation is called Path Present Future, and can be seen at the AOG near Frankville Ontario.

 

Richard Rhodes Book

Richard Rhodes has written the definitive book on stonework. His firsthand knowledge of the many ways stone has been used in architecture throughout the ages, as well as sharing his professional hands-on masonry experience, makes this more than a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history of stone and also the essential properties of stone, along with the fundamentals of how to work with it.

In the book Richard tackles many subjects that sometimes get overlooked  including the many masonry principles that have been lost or ignored by modern masonry practices. Throughout the book, his love of stone and and mankind's enduring connection to it becomes inspiringly evident.

I first heard Richard speak at a symposium in Santa Fe nearly twenty five years ago. His affable and clear way of talking about my favourite subject was more than impressive. Sometime later we had a chance to meet and talk on many subjects including the importance of dry stone walling in art and landscape design.

When he shared that he was going to be in Toronto in 2004 for a conference, I invited him to come and give a presentation here in Port Hope during that same trip. He agreed, and Mary and I  rented the library and made plans to advertise the event in the local paper. I knew a number of wallers and masons who worked with stone locally who would benefit from hearing what he had to share.  

When I asked him over the phone what he would like the title of his talk to be, he replied "Revealing the Hidden Secrets of Free Masonry" 

 

I was somewhat alarmed "Can you do that? Won't that get you (and us) in a lot of trouble?"

I forget his exact answer, but he somehow assured me that it would be okay.

The evening of the presentation, Richard and I arrived at the local library to see a large crowd of mostly men waiting outside. We realized right away that there were too many people to fit in the  conference room we had booked. We quickly had to arrange a second talk for 8:30.

The talk was a riveting explanation of many of amazing properties of stone including little known subjects like quarry sap and bedding planes and the underlying principles explaining how it has been used in the past and how to create proper bonding in order to have it be more structural. He expounded cleverly on other fascinating subjects such as the golden mean, the fibonacci series and various elements of sacred geometry, showing how it all connected with stone.   

It turned out that most of the people who had come to hear Richard were in fact of the Order of Free Masons, who admitted they were there because they didn't know what the secrets were.

In reading an advanced copy of Richard's book which his publishers sent me (which will be available to order mid June) I was delighted to see that along with many new insights and colour photos of impressive stonework throughout the world, the 'secrets' he talked about that evening in Port Hope are also covered in the book.

Whether you're a free mason looking for answers or not, I heartily encourage you to get your copy of Stone - Ancient Craft to Modern Masonry and invite you to come to another presentation we are hoping to have him give in the Port Hope area this summer, 2025.

The book 8 x 10 272 page hardcover book is published by Princeton Architectural Press, and the ISBN number is 978-1-7972-3008-5  

Rhodesworks Website

 

What about a big dry stone Hall of Rock ?

What is the proper definition of a sculpture ?

Or rather, if something isn’t made by a human being, can it (say a natural rock) still be described as a sculpture . And if so, what are the parameters to determine if a boulder say, is piece of art, or just an interesting piece of rock. Maybe it only becomes a sculpture, if it’s shaped a bit by a human, or if it just natural, it has to be displayed or arranged with some sort of human intent, to understand it as art.

Here is a lovely sculpted-looking boulder. Let's move it to a special dry stone gallery we've just built, to put it on display.

 

Framed

Dry stone walls are perhaps the best frame of reference for understanding this enchanted creation we live in.They have a selfless propensity for collective order that puts everything in perspective, and makes us appreciate how attractive everything looks 'framed', not just the fields but especially all the arts and crafts and vernacular architecture it encloses within each landscape.

It’s easy to go fast

 

 

It’s easy to go fast

It's harder to go slow 

It’s easy being strong 

But it's weakness makes us grow 

It’s child’s play to be young

But more effort being old 

It’s easy to give correction 

But harder to be told 

A breeze to just enjoy life 

But harder letting go 

The best is the before date 

But what if you don’t know? 

It’s fine to have a purpose. 

Yet not, if your not choosing 

It’s easy to be lost in thought 

But not the thought of losing 

It’s easy just to take the risk

But hard to pay the cost 

It’s easy saying I don’t care 

But not see what you’ve lost 

It’s easy to expect a break 

the end of every day 

But harder than it needs to be 

When days just slip away 

It’s easy not to think beyond 

The scope of what’s accepted 

But harder just to trust yourself 

And choose a new perspective 

It’s easier to cross the bridge 

Than stand there and just wonder 

Its easier counting lives gone over 

Than the water that’s gone under 

Dust Globe

 

Post-historic man - in a protective bubble, separated from all the natural elements, wearing hearing protection, deaf to the world, while the dust rains down around him and on to what he has created. 

Repairing the Curve

Over twenty years ago I was asked to repair a cheekend section of original dry stone wall gate entrance along Balsam Lake Road near Kirkfield, Ontario. You can see the repaired walled in the photo above.  It had been clipped by a delivery truck cutting the corner too close. Thankfully the original curved section, just beyond that cheekend wall, was not damaged.

The curve had remained completely in tact for over a hundred years, a living historic example of stylish dry stone proportion and line, not just showing what kind of craftwork could be done, but also demonstrating how well a proper dry stone wall can last in Canada. I was so impressed seeing that curved section for the first time that I chose it to be the logo for the Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada,( later to become Dry Stone Walling Across Canada.)

The curve has subsequently been damaged several times over the years by snowplows and a falling tree or two and repaired each time. Here's a recent shot of the damage done by a large tree.

Each time we repair the wall, we do it reusing the existing stone. Today we fixed the curve and the cheek end again and enjoyed the fact, that beautiful dry stone walls can actually be repaired, not just bulldozed. Most materials used in walls and fences made of wood or concrete, when they are damaged have to be trucked off to the dump, and all new material brought in to build anew.  

 

Built to Last

 

Imagine you are one of the stones in the wall.

Imagine too, all that work that went into the wall, to get you to that resting place.

You are one with the wall.

You and the rest of the stones are the wall.

You are built to last

(but not forever).

You are built to last gracefully,

Last acceptingly, 

Last honestly. 

To last, relying on something other than glue or cement. 

To last, not relying on any ridiculous over-engineering.

To last without needing to be all things, all the time.

You are just one thing. 

Imagine you are home at last.

You are comfortable with being last.

Comfortable going slower and slower. Slower like a tree, like a mountain. 

At rest. Just lasting away.