Feile na gCloch (Festival of Stone) 2012 Inis Oírr Island

On the fourth weekend of September I once again headed off to Inis Oirr (Inisheer) on the Aran Islands for this year's Feile na gCloch (Festival of Stone). 

The festival is organised and run by the country's most knowledgeable and experienced drystone waller, Patrick McAfee, in conjunction with the wonderful Marie Mannion, Heritage Officer of Galway County Council and Paddy Crowe, manager of the Inis Oirr Cooperative.  

Group photo courtesy of Karl Kennedy 

Every year this event seems to get bigger and bigger, as does the list of international experts and speakers at the event. This year saw John Shaw-Rimmington of Dry Stone Walls Across Canada, Tomas Lipps of the Stone Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Alexandra Morosco of Stonefest, Seattle, and Scott Hackney of Marenakos Stone, Seattle and co-director of Stonefest share their knowledge as well as giving inspirational presentations on some of the amazing things happening with stone in many different parts of the world.  

There were many other international people in attendance at the stone festival, including people from France, Switzerland, Australia, Netherlands, Ukraine, England ,Finland and the USA. 

Also in attendance was seven of the eight person committee of the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland (Ken Curran, Sunny Wieler, Tom Pollard, Alex Panteleyenko, Rory Noone, Noel O'Shaughnassey and Francis Coady) who briefly explained their plans and aspirations for the association, which was met with a positive response. The eight member of the committee (Malachy Sheehan) was unable to attend this years Feile.   

This years build was a large vertical stitch retaining wall (at least 150 tonnes)up to 12 feet (3.6Metres) high on one end. This wall style was traditional to the island, and the most effective method of building retaining walls.

Looking down at the retaining wall it is very easy to see why drystone retaining walls don't need any drainage pipes or gravel, as the entire structure is free draining (one of the many benefits of building in the dry stone method) 

Because of the large number of participants this year,  Nick Aitken and George Gunn, both well seasoned wallers and instructors from Scotland, very kindly took separate groups of people to train at walls beside the cooperative and near the harbour. 

After three days of building one massive new retaining wall was completed, two free standing walls were rebuilt and a large quantity of Guinness and soup were consumed. But most importantly, new friendships were made, and the passion and respect for the traditional craft of dry stone walling continued to grow and be cared for in this country.    

One of my favourite things to do when out on the island is to go off on a solitary wander, either early in the morning or late in the evening, to enjoy the spectacular scenery as well as the abundance of outstanding drystone walls the island has to offer..  

St.Gobnait church 'Cill Ghobnait' one of my two favourite buildings on the island (the second being Tigh Ned's pub)

Old stone cairns

traditional stone gate

Like all the other regular attendants of Feile na gCloch, I am already looking forward to next years Feile. If you would like to see my post on last years event click here. I also recommend checking out Louise Price of Limewinow's blog post on this years event. If you would like to keep up to date with Dry stone walling in Ireland or wish to find out about next years event, check out The Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland web page http://dswaireland.ning.com/ and feel free to sign up as a member too.

And finally      

Sorry for my absence from my blog over the past few months. I have been very busy working on my new big Stone Art project. I will share more about this when I have it completed. I still have plenty of interesting things to write about and will try to get posting more often again.  

Busy working with stone instead of my computer

The colossal land art of Andrew Rogers

Ancient Language 2004 Atacama desert, Chile. 80m long x 3m high

Building of Ancient Language 2004

Andrew Rogers is a sculptor whose works may be found in many plazas and buildings around the world. He is a leading contemporary artist.

Rogers is the creator of the world’s largest contemporary land art undertaking. Titled “Rhythms of Life,” the project commenced in 1998 and at present comprises 48 massive stone structures (Geoglyphs) across 13 countries in seven continents and has involved over 6,700 people. These Geoglyphs range in size up to 40,000 sq m/430,560 sq ft – and are commanding worldwide attention. They are situated in the Arava Desert - Israel, the Atacama Desert - Chile, the Bolivian Altiplano, Kurunegala - Sri Lanka, Victoria -Australia, the Gobi Desert - China, Akureyri - Iceland, Rajasthan - India, Cappadocia - Turkey, Jomson and Pokhara in Nepal, Spissky and the High Tatras in Slovakia, the Mohave desert in the USA, near the Chyulu Hills in Kenya and an ephemeral installation in Antarctica near the Dakshin Gangotri Glacier. Individually and together the Geoglyphs form a unique set of drawings upon the Earth stretching around the globe, connecting people with history and heritage.

The title of the project, the “Rhythms of Life” is derived from Rogers’ early bronze sculptures.

One thing that I find as impressive as the vast sculptures themselves, is the organisation and sheer manual labour involved in constructing them.

Building of Presence Cerro Rico mountains, Bolivia 2005

Video of the work in Bolivia showing some of the unique cultural experiences that are very much a part of every build.

 To enable him to realise his visions Rogers enlisted the help of two young Israeli architects, Tidah Beca and Golan Levi, who supervised the construction of most of his earthworks around the world. “Space and Time,” the largest complex, is the culmination of this ambitious global undertaking. Rogers spent two years negotiating with local Turkish authorities to accept his initial proposal for a pair of earthworks.

His business acumen served him well here in manoeuvring through delicate negotiations and in organizing hundreds of workers, overseers, translators, and transportation and food providers. Without the support of laborers, craftsmen, education leaders, and political and religious advisors, an elaborate undertaking such as this— financed by private donors, including the artist, public funds from the national and local government, and grants from several Turkish corporations—could never be realized.

Sacred. Poprad, Slovakia. 2008 100m x 100m Made from Travertine marble.

The Ancients. Atacama desert, Chile 2004 90m x 90m 

Located at an altitude of 2469 m (8100 ft) above sea level, on the Llano de la Paciencia (Plain of Patience), 13 km from the town of San Pedro de Atacama, "The Ancients" geoglyph is derived from a 6000 year old pictureglyph known as "El Señor de los Báculos"  

The stone walls forming this geoglyph, constructed from volcanic rock and clay, are 1200 m (3936 ft) in length.

Building work on  The Ancients  sculpture Chile 

The viewing deck The Ancients  sculpture Chile    

The Messenger. Gobi desert, China 2006 150m x 150m

The only exception to the kind of communal collaboration characteristic of his work occurred in China, where Rogers created three geoglyphs in the Gobi Desert. He found the bureaucracy there exceptionally daunting and ended up accepting the government’s offer to use a 1,000-man army unit to construct the earthworks rather than employ the remote region's inhabitants. Rogers now admits that he regrets the decision, since it runs counter to the project’s spirit and trajectory. Nonetheless it is an amazing sight to see in action. 

Some of the 1000-man army unit to construct the earthworks in China 

Some of the 1000-man army unit to construct the earthworks in China 

Check out this video of the construction works in China

A few more of my favourite pieces

Rhythms of Life, Arava desert, Israel 2001 29m x 24m

Rhythms of Life, Arava desert, Israel 2001 29m x 24m

To Life, Arava desert, Israel 1999 38m x 33m

To Life, Arava desert, Israel 1999 38m x 33m

Labyrinth. Jomsom, Nepal 2008 60m x 60m

Bunjil, you yangs national park, victoria, Australia 2006 100m wingspan x 80m depth

Slice. Arava desert, Israel 2003 80m x 38m

Although this is fast becoming another epically long post I would also like to mention (just for the sheer size of the pieces of stone used) is the site in Cappadocia, Turkey, where in September 2011 Rogers completed the “Time and Space” geoglyph park. The thirteen structures comprise more than 10,500 tons of stone and, in total, the walls measure approximately 4 miles (7 km) in length. The structures that lie furthest apart are separated by a distance of 1.25 miles (2 km).

A Day On Earth. Cappadocia, Turkey 2009 31.5m x 51m x 19.5m (103.35ft x 167.32ft x 64ft)

The  64ft high  solid basalt columns that make up part of the A Day On Earth, Sculpture Cappadocia, Turkey 2009   

Part of the 'A Day On Earth' sculpture includes the world’s largest basalt arch. Inscribed with a single word, MEMORY, the arch is 64ft high, constructed with solid basalt columns, each weighing in excess of 84 tons, and is the largest such basalt structure in the world. The arch is located at the end of a colonnade of 30ft high basalt columns, each inscribed with 22 virtues. “A Day on Earth” is about the fragility of life and society, and values inscribed on each column are imbued with meaning and a deep yearning of every person- liberty, justice, integrity, truth, respect, peace, freedom, quiet, hope, optimism, history, heritage, tolerance, beauty, joy, rights, love, responsibilities, faith, compassion, goodness, kindness.

Not too far away are the 6m (19.7ft) high basalt columns of 'Yesterday Today Tomorrow' 2009 

Another part of the 'Time and Space' park completed in 2011 is Presence. 24 basalt columns up to 9m (30ft) high 38 × 22 × 9m(125′ × 72′ × 30′)

The work I have shown here is just a taste of the amazing work that Andrew has completed to date.  To see  his complete works, check out his website http://www.andrewrogers.org also check out the book of his works 'Rhythms of Life'. All the photos used for this post are from Andrews website with is kind permission.

True love is set in stone

There is something very special about creating a piece of art in stone to celebrate a loved ones life. Probably the most unique and moving example of this is the recently completed Kerry Landman Memorial.

Kerry Landman Memorial Tree 

The wall is situated at Island Lake Conservation Area on Hurontario Street South and is open to the public seven days a week. The Memorial Forest Trail runs through part of the conservation area and takes you through the 'Dods and McNair Memorial Forest' where the dry stone tree can be seen on the south side at a high point on the trail. While people have been encouraged to plant trees in memory of loved ones, Eric got permission from Dods and McNair and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to build a dry stone wall in memory of his wife Kerry instead.

This fantastic dry stone structure was build by Dry stone waller Eric Landman with the help of his eldest son Jordan, as well as many other friends and family, to commemorate the life of his beloved wife who sadly passed away last year. I cannot think of a more  fitting and beautiful way to commemorate the life of a loved one than by getting together with friends and family and building a piece of stone art together in their honour. All those involved found working on the project a great help with dealing with their grief as well as showing their love for a wonderful lady.    

The concept drawing

Ironically, it was actually Kerry who helped give Eric his dry stone walling start. For many years, the family had a dairy farm in Grand Valley, and Kerry operated Brewed Awakenings coffee shop after buying it in 2004.One day Kerry asked a regular customer at the coffee shop, Greg Wildeboer, owner of Whispering Pines Landscaping, if he needed anybody to work for him. At first, Wildeboer was unsure, until finding out it was Eric she was talking about. “She came home and told me I had a job. I said, ‘I don’t need a job.’ She said, ‘You need a change’,” Eric said, noting he enjoyed landscaping at home. “(Wildeboer) just got me into doing odd jobs for them.”

That work piqued Eric’s interest in the trade. He learned more about the Dry Stone Walling Across Canada, formerly the Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada, began taking courses and things took off from there. Since then he has done numerous walls, water features, and structures. He also has participated in festivals with the DSWAC building various structures, including the Black house on his home farm. As of 2010 Eric became the field director of the DSWAC. He is now working full time dry stone walling and continues to farm in his spare time.

 

While the main wall is made of Limestone, Eric used local rounded granite fieldstones that were found on site to represent the leaves. A lot of them had green moss on them that added to the effect of the stones looking like foliage.

Photos of the Kerry Landman Memorial courtesy of Eric Landman

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Another sculptural stone memorial I was very moved by is this piece by Australian sculptor Peter Schipperheyn titled "Asleep" Located at Mt Macedon Cemetery, Mt Macedon, Victoria, Australia.

According to Peter, this sculpure came about as a result of knowing a remarkable individual who in many ways changed his life. In 1981 I he met an extraordinary individual: Laurie Matheson, who  purchased the largest work I Peter had made by that stage. From here Peter went on to make Mr Matheson a number of other sculptures, and in the process develop a close relationship with him.

Sadly some years later Laurie became ill and passed away. 

Following his death in 1987 Peter was asked by Laurie Matheson's widow Christina to carve a figure called "Asleep" in Carrara marble as his gravestone.   

"Asleep" by Peter Schipperheyn  photo via funpic.hu 

The sculpture depicts Christina laying on her husband's grave. This wonderful sculpture is the perfect embodiment of one’s deepest emotions after the passing away of a loved one, to be there with them, to desperately hold on and to never let go.

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The Lovers Bench by Stone Art

This is a stone bench I made for a guy in Limerick who asked me to build him a stone bench with the words 'true love is set in stone' engraved in it. Built from local field limestone, the bench was a gift for his wife, as an expression of his love. Very sweet.

The Lovers Bench by Stone Art   

'Temppeliaukio' The Rock Church, Helsinki

Last September my wife had to go to a conference to Helsinki, Finland, so I decided to tag along and see what Helsinki is all about.

On arriving I quickly noticed that much of the buildings and stone walls in Helsinki are made of a lovely pink granite. If you had a geologist to hand he would tell you the reason for this is because Helsinki sits on an indented Pegmatitic (pink) granite peninsula that makes up part of the Baltic shield. I did not have a geologist to hand, but walking in some of the many green areas in Helsinki, large outcrops of this rock were poking out of the ground everywhere I looked.

Most of the buildings built with this stone are highly manicured and well dressed. The central train station and the parliament buildings are fine examples of this. One building that I was very much taken by was a place called The Temppeliaukio Church or The Rock Church. 

Exterior, dry stacked wall of the rock church.

A stark contrast to the well dressed pink granite buildings around Helsinki, the rock church is rugged and unmanicured.

360º view of the inside

Temppeliaukio Church is a Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki. The project comes from an architectural competition won by the architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen in 1961. The design of their project was recognized by the jury as “completely original” and respectful of the competition goal to “include the organization plan to keep as much of the giant granite outcrop that makes up Temppeliaukio Square intact.”

Their original solution to saving the square was to have the interior of the church site excavated and built into the rock. It dawned intuitively on the Suomalainen brothers when they visited the building site that in order to save the character of place, the rock itself had to be understood as a church and everything built at the site should be adjusted to accompany the character of the rock.

Before the Suomalainen brothers started designing the Temppeliaukio Church, they had done planning work for the Ministry of Defence and thus had become familiar with rock building.

The brothers' aim was to locate the floor of the sanctuary at the level of the widest and highest street, Fredrikinkatu Street, which ends at the square. This required the church hall to be cut into the bedrock. As a result this leads the visitor to the sanctuary without the need to climb stairs, simultaneously offering a friendly rather than overbearing experience of the church space.

The Rock church looking down at Temppeliaukio Square. Photo by MKFI via Wikipedia 

The seemliness transition of the rock walls from inside to outside. 

The 24m diameter roof is made up of a copper plate-covered dome, using a impressive 13.6 miles (22 km) of copper plate strips. The dome is connected to the natural rock wall by 180 window panes that let in natural light. Due to the varying height of the rock wall, each glass part of the roof is different in size.

As a result of the natural slope of the bedrock walls, the glass panes above the altar area are bigger, allowing the altar to become more illuminated compared to the other parts of the sanctuary 

13.6 miles (22 km) of copper plate strips covered the inside of the dome.

The alter

The colour scheme of the interior was based on the  red, purple and grey shades of granite. The metals were also carefully selected to match the colours of the stone. Steel, made bluish by hammering, non-oxidised copper for the entrance doors as well as for the front facing of the gallery and interior of the dome, concrete left in its raw state.

The brothers' vision was for the church to have a strong connection with nature and its surroundings, and they wanted the natural rough quarried stone to have a leading role in creating the atmosphere inside the sanctuary. To achieve this the bedrock walls were left rough, with all drill markings from the quarrying visible, while the resulting quarried rock was stacked on top to create the rest of the walls that continue out and over the park surface.

Drill marks leftover from  quarrying

Aside from the aesthetic and structural benefits, an additional benefit of the solid rough walls is its acoustic qualities, and with a seating capacity for 940, it is no wonder that the church is also a popular concert venue.    

The glistening Non-oxidised copper entrance doors to the church. 

Located right in the heart of Helsinki, The Temppeliaukio church is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, with half a million people visiting it annually. Lots more great photos of the church can be seen here. If you would like to see more photos of various stonework I came across on my trip to Helsinki you can check out my flickr album.