How long should a stack of stones stay standing before it qualifies as a sculpture of impermanent stonework?On one end of the scale is, of course, the pyramids of Egypt or Machu Picchu, because all stonework is impermanent if you stretch out the time scale long enough.  At the other end of the scale is what I like to call the quick trick rock stack or exercises in rock balancing.  While rock balancing is a fun little game to play, the structures only stay standing long enough to snap a photo.  I, myself, prefer impermanent stonework with a little more longevity.  Indeed,  I like to say that a sculpture’s relative longevity is a fundamental or intrinsic part of its character.   As such, I like to create sculptures that will stay standing indefinitely without external shocks and see how long they stay standing in an environment where they are subjected to lots of daily shocks. I especially like to leave behind impermanent stone creations in the forest for other forest hikers to discover.  

This particular exhibit is about my favorite impermanent stone stack ever (so far).  I built it at a little hidden paradise in the local public forest and it came out perfect.  With its symmetrical shape, criss crossing windows and big round boulder in the middle of the base it looked like some kind of an altar for pre-historic nature worshippers giving praise to a waterfall.  But it was built on the shifting shoreline of a meandering stream so I did not expect it to last very long.  I built it in early May.

I returned to the hidden paradise in the forest in mid June and found a great surprise.  Not only was my masterpiece of a stone stack still standing but someone else had built another stone stack to go along with it. It was kind of a shabby creation but they certainly put some effort into it.  I was so happy to see that there was another stacker out there that I wanted to jump for joy.  Instead, I started work on a third stone stack.

For the rest of the summer and all through the fall, I return to paradise on many occasions.  I make several impressive stone stacks but none stay up longer than a few weeks.  Except for my masterpiece which keeps right on going, standing tall through it all.  Someone else or maybe several people start making stone stacks up there too.  I never see anyone in person.  Only the creations they leave behind. Some stacks stay up for a while and then fall down.  New ones are built to replace them.  All through it all, the big one, my masterpiece, keeps right on standing.   By the end of October, there are four awesome stone sculptures standing around the shoreline.  It looks like the original big stone character that I built in May is leading the other stone characters down to the water.

Until. November.

What happened? Watch the video in premium content to find out.