- Artist
- Andy Goldsworthy (England, b. 1956)
- Date
- 2001
- Media
- Sandstone
- Credit Line
- Given in honor of Gerhard Casper, Stanford president, 1992 – 2000, for his vision and commitment to making the arts an integral component of university life, by the Robert and Ruth Halperin Foundation, 2001.46
The British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy harnesses nature and the environment to shape his art. For instance, Stone River is constructed from sandstone that was salvaged from Stanford University buildings destroyed in the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes. In situating the work like an archaeological excavation, Goldsworthy makes reference to the stone’s earthly origin. The artist notes, “I strive to make connections between what we call nature and what we call man-made. I hope that this sculpture will reside somewhere between a building and a quarry. It will bring together the stone’s geological and social nature … I liken this relationship to the past life of a material – of one hand placed upon another.”
The work was constructed by eight experienced dry-stone masons who traveled to Stanford from Great Britain. They worked six days a week, 11 hours a day, for three-and-a-half weeks in August 2001 to complete the project. Stone River is composed of 6,000 stones, weighing approximately 128 tons, including 700 triangular top stones cut to fit specific places in the wall.
