Stone stacking artists build gravity-defying sculptures
EDINBURGH: Sculpture artists gathered in Scotland to compete for the weighty title of champion stone stacker, in a quirky competition launched last year.
More than 30 participants from the United States, Spain, Italy and from around Britain converged on Dunbar, near Edinburgh, for only the second European Stone Stacking Championships.
Competitors must create the most complex and gravity-defying sculptures from rocks and pebbles gathered on the town’s Eye Cave Beach.
“(It’s) the most ancient art form there is,” James Craig Page, the fledgling contest’s founder, said.
Despite stone stacking’s lofty history, he traces the modern-day challenge to the creations of Californian stacker Bill Dan in the early 1990s.
Stone stacking, however, has angered some conservationists who accuse enthusiasts of “rubbing out history” by removing rocks from ancient neolithic monuments, such as Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, southwest England.
Page launched the contest last year after organising a more local event – the John Muir challenge – in 2016, which was billed as the first stone stacking competition of its kind in Britain.
John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and became known as “the father of national parks” for his pioneering conservation work.
“That was so successful that we went on to create the European championships and to bring all these wonderful artists from around the world to Dunbar,” Page said.
However, Page insists the professional artists take care to preserve the environment.
“We make sure that we do look after nature, because that is where we work,” he said.