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monthly reflection on current Lapidus-related issues

June

stones and lapidaries

The exact etymology of 'Lapidus' is mysterious, but the word provides many resonances relating to writing, engraving and stone. Lapidary means concerned with stone or stones; engraved upon stone; (of writing style) dignified and concise, suitable for inscriptions. A lapidary is a cutter, polisher or engraver of gems, from Latin lapidarius - stonecutter, from lapis (lapid-) - stone

Considering 'stone' in a reflective and creative way opens up worlds. Natural stones include limestone, brownstone, sandstone, bluestone, granite, slate, coral and travertine. Then there is 'cast stone' which is manufactured to look and behave like natural stone, for example Portland cement, which was created to resemble Portland stone, quarried on the isle of Portland, Dorset, UK in the Jurassic period around 150 million years ago.

Metaphors of stone often emphasise its apparently inert, cold or weighty qualities - 'heart of stone', 'set in stone'. 'Petrified' is 'a state of terror', a state of being turned to stone. A glimpse of Medusa was enough to do this. The huge standing stones that can move in Catherine Storr's children's book 'Marianne Dreams' are terrifying to Marianne and to the reader. It is she who creates them by drawing them, and she who has to discover the resources to save her friend Mark and herself from them.

Stones are also about movement, change, discovery, transformation. Their potency becomes apparent with a slow, careful consideration and knowledge, rather than a casual glance.

How many millennia does it take sandstone to form from grains of sand compacted and glued together with calcium carbonate, calcite or silica? Inside sandstone there are minerals: quartz, feldspar and others. A stone is not one thing but many. The artist Andy Goldsworthy often works with stone and features of the earth, exposing layers, showing how they change, how humans interact with them and change them. Inside his Stone House - Bonnington in a wood near Edinburgh, the earth has been removed and anyone stepping into the house is astonished to see the bedrock just beneath what appeared to be rolling grassland. The viewer is encouraged to look into the earth, which is illuminated by light coming into the building, and to experience a sense of surprise, perhaps vulnerability, at discovering this shelter is on top of rock that once boiled and bubbled not far beneath.

Granite, that most durable of grey stones, is an igneous rock formed by magmas - molten mixtures of minerals - which have cooled and solidified slowly (very, very slowly) deep beneath the earth's surface. Other stones are formed when magmas spill out from the earth as lava. The history of a stone is multicoloured - one of fire, earth, depths and energy. Its hardened form is only one manifestation, which we happen to stumble upon in our shorter time-frame.

The poet Alyson Hallett explores the movements of 'erratics' - stones that are transported by accident or on purpose from their place of origin to other parts of the world. She consciously engages in this process by carrying particular and significant stones to chosen places and placing them with care on their new site, with accompanying words and poems. The art involves the evolution of new communities which form with those encountered on the journeys. People's responses - her own and others' - become part of the art, and there are ongoing unquantifiable responses too of people and wildlife that encounter and relate to the stones, which change the earth's surface in collaborative acts.

The Philosopher's Stone in medieval alchemy was a catalyst for transforming base metals into gold and held the secret to eternal life. In the Harry Potter books the Stone has ambivalent and deceptive allure, and turns out to appeal to human and worldly desires rather more than offering lasting good, which instead is represented by the courage and loyalty of Harry and his friends. In other mythologies, however, rejuvenation, healing and a form of immortality are symbolised by the stone - the spiritual and moral expansion of human consciousness accompanied by both joy and humility at the elusiveness of knowledge. Carl Jung enjoyed stonemasonry and with the help of others designed and built a house on the shores of Lake Geneva. When a large block of stone was delivered in error, he took a liking to it and carved on it inscriptions relating to his quest for understanding.

We may be able to see the colours imprinted on the surface of a stone, or we may have to look deeper. Some stones look very ordinary on the surface. Through heat and pressure, the earth can transform minerals into stunning coloured gems. Rubies often only release their red, and sapphires their blue, when the outer crust of stone is worn or cut away and light is shone through it.
© F Hamilton