In the Company of Stone: The Art of the Stone Wall

In the Company of Stone: The Art of the Stone Wall by Snow, Dan. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781579651848.

"Finding stone, choosing it, and letting go of it are the three things a waller does. Id miss any one of them too much if I asked someone else to do them for me. I may work by myself, but Im not alone. Im 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. Its 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. Snows evocative prose and Peter Mausss richly textured photographs of Snows work reveal the nuance and beauty of walling--and of one mans relationship with nature. The result is by turns poetic and practical.