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From YouTube: Moments with Melinda: Interview with Thea Alvin - Stone Mason, Stone Artist of International Acclaim
Description
From Thea Alvin:
The summer of 2022 will be my 38th year as a stonemason. I began at the age of sixteen working for my father as his mason tender (yes, I expect you to be doing the math right now, and that's OK). I mixed mortar and carried bricks as fast as I could.
When other little girls were playing with dolls... I was eating my fifteen pounds of dirt.
I live in a funky farm house in rural Vermont where we are allowed to freely express our feelings. We experiment with color and texture and dance in the rain and play in the mud. Life is full and rich. I look at life with a smile and find the humor in the silliest of things. When I look at the stars at night I know, like many, that I am insignificant.
The work I do happens with me, through me and not so much because of me. My plans for the year include loving and working with lovers of earth and stone all around the globe, if I root in a place, I will stay there and cultivate it.
I've recently completed the building of a new house and barn: My sculpture park is expanding and I invite you to visit, especially if you want to tell stories and wave your hands in the air and laugh. If you dance you are also welcome, or sing and dance, that's OK too.
8/26/2022
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A
A
A
The
stony
part-
well
there's
a
lot
about
you
that
my
viewers
are
going
to
want
to
learn
about
now.
You've
been
written
up
in
the
new
york
times,
highlighted
by
oprah
and
covered
over
the
years
by
multiple
news
outlets
for
your
extraordinary
stone,
art
and
creations
thea.
Are
you
aware
of
how
remarkable
you
and
your
work
are.
B
B
A
A
My
husband,
I
built
a
stone
house
and
we
and
my
husband
has
done
stone
masonry
and
it's
what
you're
doing
is
beyond
anything
that
anybody
can
imagine.
So
we
will
move
on
because
I
know
you're,
probably
blushing,
and
this
isn't
what
you
want
to
talk
about
is,
but
I
want,
but
I
want
to
ask
you,
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
about
your
life
growing
up
and
and
I'd
also
like
to
know
what
inspired
you
to
work
in
stone.
B
Well,
as
a
child,
I
was
born
on
in
cape
cod
and
I
grew
up
in
martha's
vineyard
with
my
father.
But
when
I
was
little,
I
lived
with
my
mom
for
the
first
10
years
of
my
life
and
we
lived
sort
of
on
a
hippie
commune
for
a
bit
and
then
near
to
her
parents,
and
I
had
a
lifestyle
on
the
beach
in
the
early
70s,
where
everything
was
loosey-goosey
and
free
love
and
all
the
all
the
beautiful
hippie
things.
B
And
then
I
went
to
live
with
my
father,
who
was
quite
religious
and
very
strict,
and
then
I
ran
away
from
that
experience.
When
I
was
18
and
moved
to
vermont
to
a
hunting
camp
in
wilcott
that
my
husband
and
I
converted
into
sort
of
a
house,
it
was
challenging
at
best
and
I
had
three
little
kids
right
off
the
bat.
They
were
little
when
they
started
and
they're
much
bigger.
Now.
B
But
then,
when
I
divorced
when
I
was
28,
I
came
back
to
stonemasonry,
which
had
been
my
father's
profession,
and
I
had
I
had
done
masonry
throughout
my
marriage
and
throughout
the
the
rearing
of
my
kids.
As
a
thing
that
I
would
do
in
my
yard
and
for
my
friends
and
sort
of
around,
but
as
a
professional
when
I
was
28,
I
started
working
for
masons
in
the
stowe
area
and
I
learned
that
working
for
an
hourly
wage
was
not
going
to
support
my
kids.
B
And
I
she
said,
you're
gonna
go
in
and
you're
gonna
do
this,
and
I
said
what
am
I
gonna
do
and
she
said
you
will
figure
it
out,
and
so
I
I
learned
how
to
build
an
arch
in
order
to
enter
a
a
piece
of
sculpture
in
that
show
and
the
the
first
thing
was.
I
was
fairly
poor.
I
was
a
single
mom
of
three
young
children
and
I
didn't
have
a
truck
or
stonemasonry
tools
per
se
and
I
had
never
built
a
stone
arch
before
and
I
didn't
own
any
stone.
B
Wherever
I
can
and
study
arch
technology
and
bridges
and
vaults
and
crossfaults
and
groin
vaults,
and
all
the
things
that
I
can
imagine,
that
is
an
arch
and
right
now,
I've
been
focused
on
building
pizza
ovens
which
are
domes
with
arches
on
the
side
of
them.
So
it's
been
a
very
cool
experience
to
travel
and
to
to
travel
the
path
of
what
stonemasonry
is
and
the
historical
significance
of
it
and
then
bring
that
back
to
what
is
art
and
how
does
art
and
trade
intersect
and
where
do
they
diverge?
A
And
so
many
artists,
don't
have
the
gift
of
being
able
or
don't
have
the
opportunity
to
be
able
to
make
a
business.
It's
really
hard
to
be
an
artist
to
make
a
business
but
you're
you're
you're,
creating
works
of
art
that
are
actually
usable
and
not
just
arches
but
circles
I
mean
it's,
so
I
wanted
to
ask
you:
where
does
your
creative
energy
flow
from?
Do
you
vision
your
work
before
you
begin
creating
it
or
while
you
are
creating
it?
What
is
your
creative
process.
B
B
So
I
am
often
I
have
this
opportunity
in
this
amazing
culture
where
someone
will
see
the
body
of
my
work
and
say
we
want
you
to
come
and
build
us
something
we
don't
know
what
it
is
yet
so
I
arrive
and
do
a
site
interview
and
I'm
interviewing
the
landscape,
the
people
that
live
there
and
what
is
the
culture
of
that
space
and
by
the
by
that
I
mean,
are
there
animals?
Are
there
children?
Is
there
water?
B
What
is
the
climate
like
and
then
I
take
all
of
those
things
and
I
juxtapose
that
with
what
do
I
want
to
bring
to
the
space
and
what
is
the
history?
What
is
my
recent
building
history,
and
how
do
I
make
this
thing
new
and
inspiring
for
me
to
build
and
then
that
all
comes
together
and
that
whole
package
then
compares
to
what
is
the
available
material
and
what
is
the
available
budget
and
in
the
budget?
B
You
know
I
don't
typically
use
mortar.
However,
I
do
use
mortar
it
is.
It
is
required
in
some
locations.
I
was
just
sent
back
to
jacksonville
wyoming,
to
restore
a
structure
that
I
had
built
there,
that
was
a
dry
stone
wall,
sculpture
and
it
was
built.
It
was
built
in
such
a
way
that
moose
and
elk
and
deer
would
be
able
to
scrub
on
it
without
destroying
an
arch
or
some
overhead
structure.
That
would
then
require
me
to
come
back
out
and
repair
it.
B
A
Most
most
of
your
most
of
your
work
is
done
done
dry,
it's
amazing!
Now
you
were
a
little
woman.
I
am
little
you
are
a
little
woman,
but
you
are
a
huge
woman
with
a
tremendous
amount
of
strength
and
power.
You
also
I
want
to
talk
to
you
about.
I
want
to
talk
about
your
strength
because
you
lift
rocks
that,
are
you
know,
60
70
pounds
and
also
I
understand
that
you
do
not
have
any
fingerprints
anymore.
Could
you
talk
a
little
bit
about
your
strength,
fingerprints,.
B
Personally,
I
can
lift
over
200
pounds
and
doing
that
repeatedly
builds
a
certain
kind
of
muscle
structure
and
I
have
I
have
been
working
with
my
body
since
I
was
16.,
so
it's
it's
not
uncommon
for
me
to
lift
five
tons
of
stone
in
a
day.
So
just
repetitive
motion
over
time
has
given
me
a
very
strong
and
it
the
fact
that
I'm
short
has
offered
me
so
much
advantage.
B
I
don't
strain
my
muscles
because
they're
my
my
trunk
is
so
short
and
I'm
already
close
to
the
ground,
so
I
don't
have
to
lean
too
far
to
get
to
it.
So
that's
those
are
advantages.
Being
small
is
an
advantage
in
terms
of
lifting
and
working
mostly
close
to
the
ground,
however,
getting
to
the
higher
spaces
and
the
taller,
and
all
that
there's
any
number
of
ladders
and
scaffolds
and
all
kinds
of
things
to
climb
up
and
get
to
as
far
as
not
having
fingerprints,
they
do
wear
off.
B
A
A
wild
field-
well,
listen,
you
have
worked
all
over
the
world
and-
and
you
know,
I'm
just
a
huge
fan,
so
I'm
just
gonna
tell
you.
I
think
you've
reached
rockstar
status,
no
pun
intended
right.
So
I
would
love
to
try
to
share
your
website.
I'm
gonna
try
to
do
this
with
our
viewers
and
look
at
some
of
the
work
which
you
can
comment
comment
on.
Would
that
be?
Okay
with
you?
Certainly
thank
you
all
right.
Let
me
try
to
do
this.
If
it
doesn't
work,
I
don't
want
to
screw
things
up
here.
A
A
My
earthwork.com
and
check
out
her
website,
but
here's
your
gallery,
so
I
just
want
to
give
an
idea
of
of
what
you
do
so
so
why
don't
we?
Why
don't
we
just
start
with
a
couple
of
these
and
just
talk
about
them.
I
mean
look,
look
at
and
I-
and
I
hope
I'm
doing
this
this
giving
it
giving
it
the
breadth
of
of
that
that
it
deserves
here
at
my
earthwork,
no
s
dot
com.
A
B
B
B
So,
where
the
right
side
of
that
arch
comes
down,
the
wall
immediately
turns
to
the
left
and
sweeps
up
and
becomes
the
arm
of
the
second
arch
in
the
middle,
and
that
comes
down
and
immediately
sweeps
to
the
left
and
becomes
the
the
right
side
arm
of
the
last
arch.
So
the
whole
thing
looks
like
and
is
actually
in
a
in
a
twist.
A
So
how
do
you
get
that
last
stone?
I
mean,
how
do
you
well,
you?
You
have
an
arch,
you
have
a
form.
Yes,
you
use
right
and
then
you
build
it
over
the
form
and
that
and
that's
something
our
viewers
need
to
understand,
because
when
you
look
at
it
you
just
you,
don't
you
don't
know
that
and
it
right
it's
almost
like
it's
magic
all
right.
A
B
Yes,
this
is
this:
is
a
moon
gate,
that's
out
at
mandala,
gardens
in
marion
illinois,
and
this
demonstrates
a
kind
of
element
of
artwork
that
I
find
fascinating
and
it's
something
that
I'm
really
keen
to
explore.
More
of
and
it's
it's
not
the
work
itself,
but
it's
how
reflection
and
movement
and
light
and
wind
and
water
all
can
affect
what
the
piece
of
work
looks
like
throughout
the
year.
B
So
here
you
see
a
moon
gate
in
a
reflecting
pool
and
the
whole
thing
becomes
then
a
new
image
you
have
all
of
the
light
and
color
and
combinations
of
the
environment
around
it.
So
part
of
part
of
imagining
in
advance
when
you
come
to
the
situation
is
to
see
it
in
all
of
those
opportunities
and
and
then
in
looking
for
new
new
settings
to
put
work.
B
B
B
Those
are
what
you're
seeing
there
is
a
chapel
inside
and
outside
which
is
in
vermont,
it's
a
private
residence
and
then
the
moon
gate.
There
is
a
clock:
that's
in
wisconsin,
it's
a
solstice
clock
on
the
shortest
day
of
the
year.
The
sun
will
come
up
and
cruise
through
that
circular
window
and
hit
the
standing
stone.
There
are
three
standing
stones
in
the
back.
It
hits
the
center
one
in
the
middle
point,
with
a
beam
of
light
at
dawn.
So.
A
B
I
think
it's
fabulous
to
have
to
build
deep
time
structures
and
to
have
to
offer
the
question
like
what
were
they
thinking
in
into
the
future,
because
I
often
ask
that,
as
I'm
working
on
restorative
things
now
as
you're
going
over
each
of
these
pictures,
it
should
open
a
link
for
your
viewers
to
to
see
some
of
the
the
builds
of
each
one
of
those
things
there's
a
whole
garden.
It
should
if
the
maintenance
of
my
website
is
limited.
Well,
let's
talk
about
this.
A
Because
you
also
use
water
in
your
yes,
this
was
done
in
boulder
colorado
right
and
you
use
you
you
you
not
only.
I
mean
you're,
I'm
very
emotional
here
about
this.
It's
so
extraordinary
you,
you
take
all
the
elements
of
nature
and
you
pull
them
together
in
these
incredibly
gorgeous
beautiful
works
of
art,
and
so
here
is
a
beautiful
waterfall.
That
you've
created
talk
a
little
bit
about
that.
A
B
Her
name
is
tat
and
she
bought
three
lots
together
in
boulder
colorado
and
there
was
an
old
house
on
the
lots
and
in
order
to
build
her
new
house,
they
took
down
the
old
house
and
when
they
did,
they
discovered
that
there
was
a
spring
in
the
basement
that
they
had
then
to
do
something
with
all
this
water
now
normally
a
spring
would
be
a
very
terrible
thing
to
have
in
your
house
and
it,
but
in
boulder
they're
in
the
desert,
and
so
now.
Suddenly
she
had
this
opportunity.
B
B
The
the
point
that
the
waterfall
comes
from
is
more
than
six
feet
off
the
ground
and
it's
over
a
series
of
caves
that,
on
top
of
which
are
planted
gardens
for
people
to
eat
from
on
the
inside,
it's
a
three-sided
high
wall
garden
on
the
inside
are
planted.
Plants
for
the
people
that
live
in
the
house
on
the
outside
are
planted
plants
for
people
to
eat
from
who
happen
to
walk
by,
and
there
are
signs
to
that
effect
and
it's
all
irrigated
from
the
water.
B
That's
coming
out
of
this
cistern
and
you
can
see
in
the
photo
there's
that
sort
of
diagonal
line,
that's
representing
sort
of
a
hand
rail
for
a
staircase
that
goes
down
to
the
inside
of
that
cistern.
So
if
you
were
an
animal
or
a
person
who
wanted
to
swim
or
who
fell
in,
you
could
walk
up
the
staircase
and
then
pass
under
the
waterfall
stone
and
out
through
the
cave
system
and
and
get
out
without
any
damage
or
danger.
A
Thea
you
create
experiences,
I'm
going
to
stop
sharing
our
screen,
because
I
want
to
get
back
to
you
and-
and
I
I
have
I
have
we're
coming
down
sort
of.
I
could
talk
to
you
for
an
afternoon,
but
I
you
you
believe
that
rocks
are
alive.
I
think
I
read
that
and
I
and
I
I
I
want
to
hear
a
little
bit
more
about
that.
B
Well,
I
think
that
rocks
have
personalities,
and
I
think
that
they
can
store
a
lot
of
energy
of
experiences
that
they
have
and
sometimes
rocks
want
to
do
what
you
ask
them
to
do,
and
sometimes
they
don't
and
I
try
and
listen
to
them,
because
I
use
them
all
the
time,
and
I
have
a
lot
of
respect
for
the
natural
environment.
We
live
together
with
the
things
that
are
outside
and
so
to
force
them
to
our
will
or
to
force
them
to
do
something
that
they
don't
want
to.
Do.
B
I
think
is
you
know
we
are
not
the
top
species
that
are
here.
We
just
happen
to
be
the
ones
that
are
communicating
about
it.
So
you
know
the
rocks
have
outlived
every
other
thing.
That's
here
and
here
they
still
are
and
for
our
measly
little
time
we
can't
really
make
them
do
stuff
so
and
you're
loving
them.
A
I
do
love
loving
them
and
it's
just
shows
in
your
work.
It's
work
of
love,
so
I
have
a
friend
in
my
hometown
whose
wife
passed
away
and
you
came
up
to
his
land
and
with
his
friend
she
built
an
amazingly
beautiful,
stone,
sculpture
and
bench
where
her
ashes
are
laid
rocks,
are
markers
of
life
and
death?
Wouldn't
you
agree.
A
B
They
can
yes,
and
once
you
are
my
student,
you
are
always
stuck
with
me,
so
I
have
this
love
affair
with
all
of
my
students,
where
they
send
me
letters
and
their
pictures
of
the
things
that
they're
working
on
and
they
get
advice
and
support
and
challenges
to
get
them
on
the
right
track.
If
they've
come
off
the
rail
so
go
ahead.
Finish
up!
Oh
it's
just!
B
I
want
this
thing
to
not
be
a
secret.
I
want
stone
to
be
something
shared
and
loved
and
it
used
to
be
a
hierarchical
system
where
only
masters
could
do
certain
things
and
in
my
teaching
process
and
in
my
life
process,
I'm
the
first
one
who's
the
willing
worker,
I'm
the
first
one
to
not
expect
someone
else
to
do
the
mundane
tasks,
and
I
I
want
that
to
be
part
of
the
process
of
how
I
teach
and
how
I
live,
and
so
people
people
coming
to
learn
from
me
learn
the
hardest
thing
to
do.
B
A
Well,
I
want
to
tell
you
that
when
I
was
22
years
old,
we
built
our
stone
house
and
I
I
went
to
starks
for
every
day
to
maelon
norris's
farm
with
my
son
on
my
back,
who
was
two
years
old
and
my
job
was
to
haul
the
36
truckloads
of
stone
house.
So
I'm
not
that
strong
anymore,
but
I
I
really
can
relate
to
all
you
and
I
think
I'm
going
to
sign
up
for
your
course.