Earth Art to Sculpture

1961 – 2009

The traditionally accepted axiom that “art enhances life” is epitomized with earth art. One of the objectives of earth art, in its purest form is to enhance nature without introducing unnatural elements.

It is this objective that has guided Dr. Harry Rosen during his almost fifty year adventure with a Laurentian lakeside property. Dr. Rosen, working alone or with one helper, has transformed the landscape with compositions of stone, boulders, earth and trees, sometimes referred to as outdoor installations or earth art.

Some may refer to Dr. Rosen as an artisan builder, engineer, landscape artist or installation artist, when viewing his almost 50 year dedication to stone work and earth art. In that time he has moved, positioned and sculpted over 900 tons of stone by hand, without power equipment.

Working from the lakefront up, his passion for stone led him to transform the area with compositions of boulders harvested from the lake and where required, from stones indigenous to the area.

The strategic blending of size, shape, colour and texture of stones in all the fieldstone walls surrounding his country house epitomizes the axiom “something from nothing”. Boulders harvested while excavating the basement were incorporated into a Stonehenge type garden. Excavated earth was employed to fill strategically placed terraces that served to prevent erosion and doubled as an outdoor amphitheatre.