"Finding stone, choosing it, and letting go of it are the three things a waller does. I'd miss any one of them too much if I asked someone else to do them for me. I may work by myself, but I'm not alone. I'm in the company of stone."
Daniel Snow is a waller, an artisan who builds walls, terraces, caverns, and the occasional sphere or pool out of dry stone. It's an ancient skill--building with only what the earth provides. No mortar, no nails, nothing to hold his creations together except gravity, an invisible glue he can sense in the stones' "conversations" of squeaks and rumbles. A hollow sound means a void needs to be filled; a solid fit is secured with the sound of a bolt being thrown. Snow's evocative prose and Peter Mauss's richly textured photographs of Snow's work reveal the nuance and beauty of walling--and of one man's relationship with nature. The result is by turns poetic and practical.
Dan Snow builds stone walls without benefit of mortar or other binding material. This ancient dry-stone method is experiencing a revival, and Snow's In the Company of Stone is full of moody photos of recent landscape projects, some of which look as if they'd been part of the scenery for centuries. Snow's poetic commentary and a helpful appendix of design detail make for an inspiring, informative book.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Hello! Welcome to my author page on Amazon. Thanks for your interest in my books. Feel free to be in touch anytime - I can be reached at companyofstone@gmail.com Here's my website - companyofstone.com
Here's my official BIO For 35 years Dan Snow has been building dry stone constructions in his native Windham County, Vermont and beyond. From the practical to the fantastical, his works in stone fuse vanguard vision with old world techniques and traditions. Environmental Art and Landscape Architecture students at universities, here and abroad, have benefited from his hands-on approach to teaching. As a Mastercraftsman with the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain, Snow instructs in the craft and examines for the DSWA Craftsman Testing Program. He has authored two books that tell the story of our hand-made heritage in stone and his personal journey in the art and craft of walling.
Dan Snow is an assemblage artist specializing in site-generated, or locally sourced, natural materials. His dry stone constructions have included stock-proof fences, pillars, stiles, staircases and arch bridges. More complex creations such as garden follies, grottoes and grandstands as well as environmental art pieces and figurative works of sculpture are part of his oeuvre. He often designs his landscape installations contextually, by creating a 3-D scale-model on site. In environmental art making, Snow seeks to recognize the elemental essence of place and bring to it new meaning through the manipulation of materials and space.
In 2001 Snow authored "In the Company of Stone", published by Artisan, with photographs of his work by Peter Mauss. "Stone Rising", a film by Camilla Rockwell, released in 2005, captures the spirit of Snow's constructions and chronicles the process of their creation. Snow's second book "Listening to Stone - Hardy Structures, Perilous Follies, and Other Tangles with Nature", was published by Artisan in October 2008. His work has been the subject of articles in numerous journals, including "This Old House", "Vermont Magazine" and "Vermont Life" magazines, and the "New York Times" and the "Boston Globe." Dan keeps in contact and conversation with stone enthusiasts of all stripes on his blog inthecomanyofstone.com. Visitors to the website can also find a chronological account of his talks, presentations, book readings, projects, installations, travels and workshops.
Dan Snow has instructed many workshops in dry stone walling, environmental art and lectured on the craft across the USA, Canada and Great Britain. In 2003 and 2007 he taught environmental art workshops for the University of Art and Design, Helsinki. In 2008 and 2009 Snow worked with Kansas State Landscape Architecture students rebuilding pioneer homestead walls and creating a permanent sculpture for the grounds of the Beach Museum of Art. In 2009 and 2010 Snow instructed week-long environmental arts workshops at the English Harbour Arts Centre, Newfoundland, Canada.
As a DSWA Examiner he has organized test venues and tested dozens of applicants in the craftsman certification scheme.
This review is from: In the Company of Stone: The Art of the Stone Wall (Paperback)
Want to learn how to make a stone wall a piece of art instead of construction? Dan Snow will guide you in this book. A book very strong in artistic expression, not construction technique. One excellent resource is the detail in the back which provides important information on how long each project took, stone sources, and construction methods. Photographer understands the art of stone because he uses his art well to express the art of the stone. You may not learn a whole lot, but you will be inspired, and thats the strength of his work!Its not construction, its truely ART!
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Being a native resident of Vermont this book is very precious to me. I lived on a dairy farm with dry stone walls that were very plain. Dan Snow made the process into an art form as well as for practical use. The back of the book gives locations of some of his work here in VT and NH and I look forward to seeing some of it next summer. This book is one that should sit on a coffee table to be picked up and scanned by your guests rather than sitting on a bookcase shelf. The book is not only about the work of Dan Snow but a showcase of the photos by Peter Mauss, in color as well as black & white. It is a book you will treasure.
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This review is from: In the Company of Stone: The Art of the Stone Wall (Paperback)
Many books explain the "how-to" of stonework; in this book Dan Snow explains the "why". The reader gets a glimpse of the creative possibilities of stone. Excellent photography; inspiring. This book is a "must-have" for anyone interested in stonework.
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