In Sight column

Story and photos by Russ Dillingham

Rock star

Andy Marsh always wanted to be a rock star. This past spring he got the opportunity, but it did not involve music. When a friend told him about the tons of large rocks, boulders, granite stones and slabs that needed to be removed from the site of the former Gooseberry Barn in Auburn, he jumped at the opportunity. “I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I wanted to try my hand at some dimensional art. I figured I’d be building my own ruins that would create a sense of permanence.”

After 10 dump trucks dropped off the load of “art,” Andy used a block and tackle to raise the eight gigantic granite slabs in a line on the edge of his driveway. He knew it was just not right, but couldn’t figure out what was off.

When his wife, Anna, came home that night and said it looked like a cemetery, he began to formulate a new plan. With the help of a friend and a back-end loader, they moved the granite slabs and some of the large boulders to several locations where he developed different themes. In one, he found rocks that looked like animals and birds that “take on a life of their own,” and another, where he sits with his dog Molly in the photo above, is his Acropolis.

He has a granite picnic table with stone benches that will never require paint or stain and blends in with the surroundings. In addition to the practical use of the picnic table, he has used natural rock formations and arranged others so they create chairs and benches that he uses to meditate and relax. “Like a poet develops his own style of writing with the words he chooses, I have found that the size, shape and texture of each rock has its own character that can speak if placed properly.”

Next up for the full-time publisher, part-time adventurer, and full-time tennis hacker: a pyramid. When a neighbor heard of his art project, he got Andy to agree to take several thousand bricks from his property. With them, Marsh plans to build a mini pyramid. “It’s a work in progress.”