Three Cairns by Andy Goldsworthy

Weber Stone Company provided 125 ton of Anamosa Limestone for the world-renown sculpture Three Cairns by Andy Goldsworthy who is internationally known for creating sculptures with natural products.  This project consists of three temporary sculptures, three permanent sculptures and three museum exhibitions that connect the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast together.  The locations of the sculptures are the following museums; Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, New York), Museum of Contemporary Art (San Diego, California) and the Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines, Iowa).

Cairns are  symbolic stone structures that are held together by their own weight.  The cairns that Andy Goldsworthy created are eight-foot high, mortarless limestone structures in a beehive shape that have 25-foot circumferences.  The three temporary cairns were created with the purpose of being destroyed by natural forces.  On the East and West Coasts, each temporary cairn was destroyed by tides and in Iowa, the temporary cairn was destroyed by a controlled fire.

Andy Goldsworthy (below)
Photo by Woolly Bugger

Three Cairns, Des Moines, Iowa (above)
Photo by Woolly Bugger

Temporary Prairie Cairn, Grinnell, Iowa (above)
Photo by Andy Goldsworthy

Neuberger Cairn, Purchase, New York (above)
Photo by Neuberger Museum
 

Temporary Cairn, East Coast (above)
Photo by Andy Goldsworthy
 

Temporary Cairn, West Coast (above)
Photo by Andy Goldsworthy, 2001