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War, Peace, and the Art of Stacking Stones

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As a landscape architect, I do love a good art installation. I also love a good controversy. I don’t mean the type surrounding the Trayvon Martin/Zimmerman trial, the Community CairnsIran-Contra Affair, or even the Keystone Pipeline. Those are kind-of icky. I prefer controversies that are a bit on the soft-shell side; those that are a bit more trifling, perhaps even frivolous. I love the type of broad spectrum argument that is over seemingly nothing of importance, has no long-lasting effect on anything vital, is not connected to anything political, religious, racial, or sexual but still has the power to get peoples’ dander up. This is what happened with the Community Cairns, or so I have decided to call them.

 

Of course there would be controversy. Those cairns were getting a lot of media attention, after all. It is not surprising to me that someone would find it audacious for local young man to descend into the river and start stacking stones, even if done as a memorial for his dead dog. Furthermore, I did not find it shocking that an angry man wielding a rake would himself descend upon the river to destroy this installation, or that the community would rise up to rebuild. Of course that would happen. What cairns you ask? Take a moment to read this, and don’t forget the comments.

 

but… “What about the children!?!”

 

I’m not trying to pick a fight here, but I live for the editorials, the streamed commentary, and the public outcry. I think we all do. We need an outlet for our pain. We need to play at war. We need to take sides and defend against a public enemy. We need to wrap our hearts and minds around the benign and make mountains out of mole hills in order to survive. How else can you explain our silence when it comes to real issues (such as the Iraqi sympathizers who were left to fend for themselves after we pulled out of the war? The Stand-Your-Ground law? Climate Change?) I just read about a 24 year old woman who was “pardoned” for her crime of being raped in Dubai. All of this is too heady, too consequential, too much for day-to-day life. I don’t blame anyone for making a big to-do about nothing. I am right there with you. I too need an escape from reality.

 

We need to make mountains…

 

Some of the stated concerns about the cairns in Winhall Brook may have credence. I heard a discussion about traffic danger. This couldn’t be more real. I consider route 30 from Jamaica to Bondville to be a VERY dangerous stretch of road according to the serious traffic accidents that have taken place there. We should figure this out. In Newfane on rte 30 for instance, near the Indian Love Call (the popular swimming destination), signs have been erected warning drivers of the upcoming parking area on the side of the road. While I think that the traffic will probably die down as we forget this controversy and move onto the next, perhaps we should take this into consideration too.

 

 

Some are talking about ecological impact. Certainly we should always be concerned about that and I thank people for keeping an eye on things. On a personal note, I found it disturbing the way we all cheered the bulldozers as they pushed their way through the streams following Tropical Storm Irene. According to the stream scientists, this move towards quick rebuilding of the roads was the most ecologically damaging part of Irene. The rip-rap banks take years to recover and are not stable against a storm. Irene itself was a natural event. Its damage was exasperated by the increase of impervious surfaces, the roads, roofs, and concrete walks for which we are ALL responsible. I didn’t see as much outrage then, however? Where was the outrage?

 

All things considered, I do not believe that the stacking of some small stones to form an EPHEMERAL art installation has had a great ecological impact on the river. There, I said it. Yes, everything we do has an equal and opposite reaction. Yes we should all protect and love the river. Yes some stones were moved but only those that could be moved by hand (i.e. small stones). Do the cairns have a devastating effect on the ecology of the river? I would argue, not so much. For one, the installation hardly leaves the river bereft of stones. Irene deposited huge deltas of dry, overlapping rocks Secondly, the large boulders, the kind that serve as cover for the aquatic organisms remain intact and unmoved. Thirdly, the flow of the river was not changed or as one post suggested, altered. To do so would be pretty amazing indeed. Anyone who knows the river and feels its power knows. The river goes where the river will go. I would argue that the driving of a car to the site had a much greater impact. After all, these are just little stacks of stones. If the next large rainstorm doesn’t knock it back down again, the ice flows of winter will.

 

The river goes where the river will go.

 

It would be nice if the rock stackers also could make an effort to equalize any ecological “destruction” with a little help with river clean up. That is, if everyone picked up a little trash when they were there, either off of the side of the road or from within the stream, the stackers could jointly make a large, positive impact. I read one angry post that suggested that the “rake man” should have used his rake to clean up the trash off of the side of the road. Well, true, but shouldn’t we all?


 

Enough war and peace. Let’s talk about the art.

 

It's the art that is the heart of the matter for me.  What could be more primal than the desire to make art from nature?  What is more satisfying than the simple rearrangement of objects of nature to form something sculptural, spiritual, and meaningful?  It is a joy that has lasted the centuries.   Since the beginning of art, people have been making cairns.  Since the beginning of time people have been stacking stones.

 

I remember meeting with and working for a visiting professor named Marc Peter Keane back during my days at Cornell.  A master of Japanese style gardens, he introduced me to the term "ishi wo tatsu" which roughly translates to the setting of stones.  This "Art of Setting Stones" (as he puts it) is roughly synonymous with the building of gardens.  This relationship with stones and the garden is one I have always held onto and further embrace in even my more Western style gardens.

 

When I first spied the cairns in the Winhall River I really think I saw it for what it was meant to be. It was striking. Confined to the materials of the existing landscape, the sculptures were both simple and refined. Sure they were in the river, but I would argue that the scene had the makings of a good garden. Of course, my definition of “garden” is likely broader than most. Certainly art is always in the eye of the beholder. Some viewed it as “an abomination.”

 

I had been planning on documenting this art installation for a while, long before the controversy began. By the time I had time to photograph it, the art had taken on new meaning and new beauty.   After the destruction of the original cairns took place, a local man named Andy called upon the community for a rebuild. Sure enough, the community came.

 

The crowd that turned out for the re-installation was not what I would have expected. It wasn’t a group of young rabble-rousers or rowdy activists, but more of a collection of thoughtful introverts, artists, and peacemakers. There were mothers, fathers, and mature women who walked with the assistance of canes. Conspicuously absent was the 20-30’s crowd I had expected. The original stacker, after all, was 25. (He was there.) This was ok though. It was this demographic who was successful at spreading the news.  It really does take a village.

 

I ask again... "What about the children?!?"

 

And the children?  They were there, but not being crushed under the weight of toppling boulders as some had feared.  Stacking little pebbles on the stream-side, away from the river's torrent, oblivious to the adults’ conflict, the young children were taking place in an age-old ceremony.  Like their mothers and fathers and great ancestors before, the children were learning the art of stacking stones. They were witness to a peaceful resurrection and what would be a short-lived installation.  Like the making of sand castles everywhere, most of the joy was in the process. Whether it be a few days, a few months, or even a year, all we will be left with are the memories and a pile of stones.

 

Peace and Love.

 

Out.



 

 

 

 


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