Stone
I have always had a close relationship with
stone.
I spent many a teenage weekend scrambling around caves in Devon, Wales,
the Mendips and Yorkshire.
My interest in such natural phenomena
encompassed the
limestone in which 'proper' caves are found and grew to
include
all of (ley) geology.
 Rock
and stone have their own feel - both
tactile
and visual - and this changes with type of rock. Knowledge of the
processes that formed the stone bings its own intimate reaction.
 The
lava that must have spewed from the
volcano to
form the Solidified Lava Cliffs would have sent its initial gouts up
from the sea floor, building and building until it broiled into life as
an island. Imagine having been there to watch.
 These
echoes of a stone's past, dimly or
strongly
felt, affect all of us differently in the viewing and handling of such
artifacts.
 The
way that man treats stone to bend it to his own will - and the
conflicts, soft and hard - are worthy of a pause for thought.
Art
can always be an expressional response, speaking consciously or
unconciously on behalf of the
majority, on political or military strictures.
 And
stone in the simple, underfoot service of man. This granite surface
from a 500 year-old quay is worn by centuries of passing feet.
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