We live on a rocky planet. Thea Alvin knows that language. She creates fantastic structures of stone all over the world. Thea lives here in Vermont and has had some powerful interactions with Icelandic caves, ancient English burial mounds, and Chinese mountaintops. She teaches all over (we talk about her Italian workshops, which feature fantastic food and the opportunity to get really dirty rebuilding ancient stone villages). Among the ideas we talk about:-The difference between stone and rock-How Thea creates a project--music and movement-Stones have "hearts," "faces," and a purpose-The Chinese philosophy of stone as a process, not just matter-How stone structures shape the people around them and vice versa-What she thinks people 500 years from now might think of her structures-Burial mounds and cathedrals: when god changed from around us in the Earth to above us-Powerful reactions from rock in Iceland, England, and Italy-What she does with a stone too "grumpy" to work in a wall

Here's Thea's class at Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont (June 2017)

Thea's website: http://www.myearthwork.com

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Music in this episode is "Worky, Worky" by Andy G. Cohen, from the album Through the Lens. Used via a Creative Commons license.