Passing on knowledge is a gift from one person to another; that which was hard won is shared with others unselfishly with the aim of enriching the lives of those being taught. Joe Dinwiddie, now based in Santa Fe, describes himself as an educator, through the teaching of dry stone walling he aims to inform and inspire. Looking at best stone construction practices across the globe he has used his background in Vocational training to develop his own methodology for passing on the skill and worth of the technique. Employing innovative teaching methods, (keep an eye out for the dancing masons!) he has extensive experience of delivering dry stone walling and stone construction workshops. The collapse of the stone trade from the mid 20th Century and the subsequent growth of manufactured products has conspired in the demise of the conveyor belt of talent emerging into the trade. The traditional route into the craft of master handing over their skills onto apprentices is all but bust. Routes into the craft of stonework are not as easy as it once was, education of the younger generation into the joy and interest of the trade is essential if it is to thrive. Joe has over the last few years designed a stone arch teaching aid that he uses in school settings to engage students. What at first could be seen as simply a little toy, in Joe’s hands it is transformed into a ‘gateway’ for developing minds to step into and through to explore the wider wonders of maths, science and the arts.

Furthering this learning he has worked with schools and teachers to build outside learning spaces designed around astronomical and calendar observations. As stone is used less and less especially within commercial situations those professionals that are essential for support, clients, architects, structural engineers, they too have lost the knowledge and confidence in the material, it has become an unknown quantity to them, Joe sees this as an area of practice that requires some additional focus in the future, a responsibility for those committed and versed in stone to educate those they need to realise municipal and commercial projects. It is endlessly fascinating to me how others use their knowledge of stone, how from learning their craft scrabbling around a pile of rocks they expand it into so many other interesting fascinating and rewarding areas of endeavour. Joe’s enthusiasm is taking him in directions he probably never foresaw when he started loading those first rocks into a wheelbarrow, that he is opening up the field to so many others is to his great credit, as Yeats said – ‘Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.’

https://www.drystonejoe.com/ Check out Joe Dinwiddie’s Stone work here!