What is Stone Stacking?
Stone stacking is a meditative artistic skill which can be produced anywhere. Stone stacking utilises the materials found in nature. Balancing uses nothing more than the natural gravitational pull of the Earth.
Beaches and shores provide a great backdrop for this art technique due to the abundance of rocks and stones. These free and natural materials which have been eroded by centuries of tides. Abstract shapes can produce sculptures of amazing and gravity defying angles. There are many different techniques used that come under different categories of stone stacking, from simply trying to achieve the highest stone stack to creating arches and artistic balances. Unlike many other artforms the materials are provided by nature itself.
Stone stacking also provides a great form of meditation with the artist lost in the concentration of working with the raw materials they find scattered in nature, grappling with gravity to produce the perfect balance. The level of concentration required to stone stack embraces the artist and consumes their entire concentration. Stone Stacking frees their mind of other thoughts and provides not only a stone balance but a balance within the artist. The meditative benefits of stone stacking is a great reason that children embrace this activity. Giving a task which invokes their full concentration and can bring balance in a world of stimulation.
My Stone Stacking Discovery…
My involvement with stone stacking came during my faces in nature research and soon became part of my daily meditative ritual. Having close access to a beach with plentiful bounty of different rock types I began to get more elaborate with my stacks. I often found Nature was providing me with the next stone without any deliberate thought on my part. Stone balance has become one of my greatest artistic passions and finding others involved in this activity has led me to some amazing connections.
In 2016 I hosted Europes first ever stacking championship in my hometown of Dunbar, Scotland. This led me on a path to my attendance at the World stacking championships in 2017. Annually I will be hosting the European Stone Stacking Championships. This years ELAF takes place 4th -9th July. Bayswell Beach.
Secret Scotland Chanel 5 European Stone Stacking with Susan Calman.