I Will Put A Stone On Your Cairn

Several years ago, there was an artist who stacked stones on Belle Isle who found himself in the middle of a disagreement with the city over unofficial art in public places. This June, it appeared that someone was building cairns again.
Stone stacks, or cairns, have an ancient history. Native cultures from the Arctic to Arizona built them as representations of protective energy. They can be found all over the world, from Europe to Asia to Africa, most commonly built as burial markers, or navigation devices.  A few examples of cultural traditions...

From the Arctic:
"Inukshuk (singular), meaning "likeness of a person" in Inuktitut (the Inuit language) is a stone figure made by the Inuit. The plural is inuksuit. The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms and for different purposes: to show directions to travellers, to warn of impending danger, to mark a place of respect, or to act as helpers in the hunting of caribou. Similar stone figures were made all over the world in ancient times, but the Arctic is one of the few places where they still stand. An inukshuk can be small or large, a single rock, several rocks balanced on each other, round boulders or flat. Inuit tradition forbids the destruction of inuksuit."
From Scotland:
"This particular word has a far wider definition in that it can be used in reference to a multitude of different hills or stone piles formed by man or naturally. You can normally find a cairn or a pile of stones near waterways, mountaintops, moorlands and in uplands. This is a tradition that has existed within Scotland for many centuries. Carrying a stone from the bottom of the valley to be placed on top of an existing cairn has become part of Scottish folklore and custom. Over time, cairns have grown into large mounds and are an intriguing and curious sight. An ancient Scottish blessing, "Cuiridh mi clach air do charn" means "I will put a stone on your cairn"."

Last summer, as part of Access Arts' first show on Belle Isle, Sean Hages built beautiful lake cairns. I wish I had my own photos of them, for they were breathtaking. The photos of these new stone stacks are from mid-June. I had been thinking about writing of them since then, but sometimes finding amazing things on Belle Isle feels like a secret to hold close, like your childhood hideaway that no one else knows about.

Alas, tonight the cairns are gone, except for this lonely spirit watcher....

The cairns resonated with me as metaphors for balance and impermanence in life, and as flights of imagination and daring. I offer the pictures to their maker, as thanks, along with the traditional Scottish blessing, Cuiridh mi clach air do charn.

Some interesting national and international rock stacker artists and websites:
Andy Goldsworthy
Jim Needham
Bill Dan
Rock Balancing