This workshop has been cancelled.

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

Mark Mendel began his stone apprenticeship with two Maine stonemasons 50 years ago and 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 at the entrance to Berkshire School in Sheffield. He designed, built and donated the stone spinning fan in BBG’s rose garden. 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. 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 and the MIT Museum in Cambridge. 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.