Alexei Panshin's The Abyss of Wonder

    My friend, Steve Snyder, is an artist in the most ancient artistic medium -- stone.

    He has an eye for the quality of rocks, and he sees things in them that other people don't.  He likes their texture.  He likes the way they change mood in different light.  And he likes the way they can be all the same or completely different from one another.

    From time to time, he'll make a gift to me of some special stone he's found that he thinks I'll appreciate -- a rock beautifully rounded by the action of water, or one that has an edge like a portrait of Richard Nixon in profile.

    Steve repairs neglected old stone buildings.  He builds walls and walkways, stairs and pillars and fireplaces -- sometimes with mortar, sometimes without.  He carves datestones and designs in relief, drawing inspiration from ancient Egypt, or American folk art, or Art Nouveau.  And sometimes he just piles one rock on top of another and calls it stone art.

    Because stone is so common, it tends to be taken for granted and to blend into the landscape.  But it's durable and it doesn't like to move around a lot once it has found a comfortable place for itself.  So long after you and I and Steve Snyder are gone, Steve's artful arrangements of rock are likely to still be here.
 
 

(Click on any thumbnail for a larger view.)

More of the art of Steve Snyder can be seen at Steven R. Snyder: Stonework & Sculpture