A number of years ago while visiting Block Island I had the privilege of watching Andy Weatherwax balance rocks at the northernmost part of the island. His careful focus and attention on that single point where one rock balanced precariously on another bedazzled everyone that watched him. “How did you do that”, asked one onlooker? “Did you use some kind of glue”, asked another? I told him how impressed I was and he told me that I should take a look at his Facebook page Life Rocks in Balance. Upon visiting his page I learned that Andy had Parkinson’s disease and that balancing these rocks helped him with his struggle with physical immobility.
Up until that point, I had enjoyed stacking rocks along the coast of Block Island, however Andy’s sculpture was beautiful and enhancing to the island landscape. Like all art, we sometimes need a little inspiration before we take on new creative outlets and I was quite inspired by Andy’s work.
Michael Grab is another rock balance “hero” that I know of in Colorado – take a look at his site at http://www.gravityglue.com/about/. His work demonstrates how transformative these sculptures can be to the landscape and inspires me to continue to do better with my own work.
I have been doing this for quite some time now and am happy to share some of the photos of my rock sculptures. I can tell you that it is a very relaxing and enjoyable activity. There are so many great advantages to doing this; the materials are free, you won’t think of anything else while doing this and, the end result is quite pleasing, although temporary. On some occasions the sculptures fall over just after I take the photograph, however there have been times when they have weathered the tides and the winds and survived the night. I encourage you to try this the next time you are at the beach or even in your yard, just pick up a rock and see what you can do – if you are stressing out, stop, that’s not the point of this. Have fun.
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