Masonry Magazine October 2005 Page. 34
MASONRY AROUND THE NATION
By Heather Gehlert
Art in Four Dimensions
WHEN WILL GWILLIAM LOOKS AT A 350-YEAR-OLD CHIMNEY, crumbling from years water damage, he sees more than failing bricks and mortar. He sees art. And he just can't keep that to himself.
Last June, Gwilliam, an architect and 50-year veteran of masonry restoration, invited the public to watch as his team of six masons repaired, brick by brick, a 17th-century chimney in Duxbury, Mass. The chimney is a part of the historic Alden House, which rests on the last surviving property from the 1627 settlers land division and was home to pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden-nicknamed "America's first couple."
Alden "Rink" Ringquist, director of the Alden Kindred of America, a group of descendants who own and maintain the land, approached Gwilliam-also an Alden descendant-with the idea of opening up the historic house to visitors. It didn't take much convincing to get Gwilliam on board.
Cameras in hand and questions in mind, more than 60 people of all ages climbed the scaffold for a chance to learn firsthand about masonry and to connect with the house's rich history.
Top: The corbeled top was repaired with new S& Brick Company units. Bottom: The chimney in its damaged state, prior to working starting
Gwilliam and the masons traveled more than 600 miles from Williamsburg, Va., to the Alden House site in Duxbury to complete the 14-day project and allow the community to experience what Gwilliam describes as "art in four dimensions."
Art, he says, is "any method that is intermediary in creating human emotion." Music creates emotion. Sculpture creates emotion in three dimensions. Architecture does so in four.