Why I work stone.

[dflan77@zzzzzzz]

Why do I work stone?

When one looks around at all the physical trappings of civilization one sees skyscrapers, buildings, and monuments.  Without these what mark would we have on the earth?  We have a civilization built on the efforts of all those of past ages.  The results of strength and knowledge passed to the next succeeding children.  When man first began to knapp flint he brought himself beyond mere subsistence to the realm of flourishing.  The knowledge of working the flint stone passed on from one generation to the next as a key ability of survival.  When one looks at the edifices that man has built, the lean to, mud brick, thatch and plaster, what survives. Stone.  Stone was the first physical property that could be created from one generation and passed to the next to physically endure in a concrete sense for many generations.

Stone itself stands as a symbol of the unbroken line into antiquity.  It also symbolizes our impermanence as merely a link, in a chain, of teacher to student, but also the permanence of that chain into the future.

Besides all that I enjoy the wrestling of an idea into the form of a stone.  Or allowing that idea to evolve out of the half-hidden cloudy thoughts into a carving in progress.

Perhaps all of these thoughts are merely rationalizations for striving for immortality.  Or excuses for liking to get dirty and beating on a rock.

Mike McHugh