Slender rock from the Inyo White Mountains.
Small colored stones from the central coast beaches of California.
“We have collected a lot of heart shaped rocks over the years too, that we keep together.”
Jade, jasper, serpentine and a spark plug, from Big Sur, CA.
“One of my favorites I found on a road trip…I noticed a conglomerate stone with a spark plug coming out of it! Of course, I held on to it. I was fascinated by the mystery of how it had come to be and built several hypothetical stories to try to explain it.”
Jasper from Big Sur, California.
“Holding a stone in one’s hand, the scale of time and the forces that created it are very humbling. They are so old, like fragments of the bones of the world.”
Various beautiful stones of unknown origin.
Hand-axe rock, Mad River, Blue Lake, C.A.
“My current favorite…was picked up on a relatively recent trip to northern California my wife and I took for a friend’s wedding…This one is dark, mottled purple and turquoise, almost black, with cris-crossing veins that have been weathered more than the other material, which is polished and smooth. This gives it a very beautiful texture which I really enjoy the feel of. It has a very nice heft to it as well. It reminds me of some sort of Paleolithic hand-axe. It feels ancient and other-worldly.”
Rocks from the Eastern Sierra, Owens Valley
“By holding them I can visit the places we want to be going instead of medical offices or staying at home. We were even given some rocks recently from the Eastern Sierra by my aunt and uncle, not being able to go collect them ourselves.“
Quartz chips from the Mojave Desert.
Micacious stone of unknown origin.
Holed stones gathered from coastal California
ROCKS & STONES
Kirk Pickler
Fine Arts
Stones or rocks? Kirk Pickler uses the words interchangeably to describe the natural objects he has collected for twenty-five years.[1] The first came from a Pacific Valley beach full of colorful polished stones. “It was like magic,” said Kirk, “I remember picking up this deep crimson one that fit nicely in my palm and putting it in my pocket. I talked to a couple of wandering hippies at a picnic area further north about the rock. They told me it was jasper.”
It’s not the stones’ mineralogical value that matters to Kirk, however; instead his collecting is “intuitive:” he feels a connection and picks up the rock (while always taking care to follow local rules about collecting.)
That intuition is something that Kirk shares with Gaby, his wife. The first time Kirk saw Gaby’s house, he “noticed lots of natural objects inside, driftwood, seashells, stones, etc. We figured out we had the same attraction to these objects the same rules about keeping them. It’s hard to explain. It’s as if the thing must want to come with us.”
Now almost 8-years married, Gaby and Kirk’s home holds hundreds of “special stones in special places.” “They are like tribbles on the starship Enterprise. I try to remember where I have picked them up from, but I don’t always remember. We have collected a lot of heart shaped rocks over the years too, that we keep together.”
“I think,” Kirk explained, “I see the rocks like markers in my own history, like evidence that I was there. I have a very detailed map in my mind of time and space, and these objects are like pins. I think they speak of my sentimentality and attachment to time and space, and to the richness and importance that the adventures I take impart to my life.”
Today the stones have an even deeper purpose, for Gaby is unwell and the COVID pandemic prevents them traveling. “By holding them I can visit the places we want to be going instead of medical offices or staying at home.”
“I usually pick up a rock is because I am attracted to it aesthetically: it’s heft, texture, color, shape, appearance…I keep them because they are so beautiful, but also because they connect me to the places we have been and the experiences we’ve had there, like strings we’ve pulled all the way back home.”
Notes
[1]Kirk suggests reading a geologist’s amusing exploration of the difference between these two words: http://geologywriter.com/blog/stories-in-stone-blog/rock-or-stone-is-there-a-difference/