(November 2009) Is it possible to draw with slate? Of course! the older generation will call out. They still learned to write on slate blackboards. An unusual „yes“ comes from the famous British Landscape Architect Andy Goldsworthy with a project situated in the middle of downtown London: he mounted slate slabs vertically creating a meandering line like a river on a wall of the same material. He was awarded this year’s Natural Stone Award by the British Stone branch for his work.
But it was not Goldsworthy’s intention to create a river as such but rather to draw on the movement like a flow as it is present throughout nature. He gave the stone an association not usually attributed to stone, normally perceived as static.
The wall adorns Montrose Place 10. Measuring nearly 35 m and an average of 2 m high, exactly 24,035 slate slabs were implemented. The slabs are 6 cm thick and 3 sizes were used, 8 in x 16 in, 9 in x 18 in, and 10 in x 20 in respectively.
We recommend that our readers view the wall at various times of day as well as at night, when the street lights are switched on – each time, the river will seem to have shifted a bit.
