About David Wilson:
David Wilson conducted and recorded this Drystone Joe video interview in 2021. I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, David was in Scotland. David is a Scottish artist, stonemason, and podcast creator. It was one of several interviews that David conducted during the Covid lockdown era with stonemasons and others around the world. David earned a Churchill Fellowship to travel the US and Canada to meet stonemasons, stone carvers, artists, and others. Many of those he met on that 6 month journey he later interviewed for a series of podcast videos. David wrote a book in 2017 about his journey in the U.S., which a mutual friend gave to me. It is titled Creative Space: Contemporary Use of Stone In Urban Spaces.
Creativity in Drystone Masonry:
After reading the book he wrote about his travels in North America, I was inspired to talk with him about his perspectives. In particular, I was intrigued with his perspective that the majority of outreach done regarding drystone masonry focuses on methodology, not creative possibilities. This resonated with me, although I started in the craft with a focus on methodology of drystone fences. Since that era 30 years ago, my interest in stonemasonry expanded to include global examples of stonemasonry, in particular World Heritage Sites. The range of creative ways that different cultures designed and built World Heritage Sites with stone is a guiding inspiration for me.
Drystone Joe Video Interview:
We began a series of video visits in 2020. This 2021 video interview grew naturally out of those informal video visits. I am grateful to David for his thought provoking questions, as well as for his creative approach to working with stone.
There is a response I would offer differently now than in the Drystone Joe video interview from five years ago. David asked whom I would want to work with from past or present on a drystone project. In 2021, I responded Ansel Adams and Bob Dylan. Now, I would also want Muhammad Ali to work with me. Ali has been the greatest influence on me of any person from the past.
One way his presence has been part of my 30-year career in stonemasonry involves bubble levels. Whenever I capture a falling bubble level before it hits the ground, I say aloud ” . . . that’s from the Muhammad Ali water” regarding my reflexes. I attribute this to drinking the same city water as he did in our hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. It’s a far-fetched notion, accompanying a unique job-site phenomena. The screen shot from the video shows a 6′ bubble level atop drystone columns which I saved more than once.
