You are here

Building A Dry Stone Wall

When: 
Oct. 17, 2020 1 p.m. to Oct. 18, 2020 6:45 p.m.
Where: 

Berkshire Botanical Garden

This event is sold out.

Join stonemason artist Mark Mendel for a hands-on program covering the basics of dry stone wall building, including planning, layout, and demonstrations on cutting and fitting. The morning will consist of a lecture, a walk through the garden to view a variety of stone walls, and site preparation. Students will learn how to set up a batter frame and cut stone, and will practice laying stones to create structural integrity through interlocking placement. Following the demonstrations, students will work on a dry stone wall and practice wall-building. The workshop will pay special attention to building a freestanding wall using field stone.

Dress for outdoor work and bring safety glasses, heavy gloves, sturdy, waterproof footwear and a bag lunch.

Artist Mark Mendel began his stone apprenticeship with two Maine stonemasons 50 years ago this summer. He has taught at the Haystack School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. He started Monterey Masonry in 1982 and has built scores of walls, arches, terraces and walks, as well as hundreds of fireplaces in both brick and stone. Locally, his work includes the stone walls in front of Guido’s Marketplace in Great Barrington, and the stone walls at the entrance to Berkshire School in Sheffield. He designed, built and donated the stone spinning fan in the Berkshire Botanical Garden rose garden. Working as a stone consultant for Cuningham Group Architects of Minneapolis, Mendel was part of the team that received the 2012 Tucker Design Award from the Building Stone Institute, the most prestigious national award in the stone industry. In 2014, the Providence Zen Center in Cumberland, RI unveiled a glass and stone memorial to its founder, Seung Sung, designed and built by Mark. From 1977-1983, Mark was a research fellow at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies in Cambridge. His recent work has been exhibited at the ZKM in Karlsruhe Germany, 2017, and the MIT Museum in Cambridge, 2018. His work is exhibited in the Sculpture Now show at The Mount in Lenox. Mark is developing a new outdoor work of stone, glass, light, and music for Mass MoCA in North Adams.


Advance registration is required.

Help Our Garden Grow!

Your donation helps us to educate and inspire visitors of all ages on the art and science of gardening and the preservation of our environment.

All Donations are 100% tax deductible.