Stone Balancing Demonstration and Instruction

Rain Date: Sunday October 11

Stone Balancing is an art, performance, meditative practice, and/or hobby that involves using a stone’s natural form and weight to create stacks without using any other form of adhesive or structure. It requires patience, practice, concentration, and maybe just a little bit of magic. To participate in a free demonstration, join us in the Hadwen Woods at Bennington Museum. Meet in the Hadwen Pavilion at the end of the parking lot by 1:00, or follow the signs to the Jennings Brook Trail after 1:00. Families welcome! This program is free, and no registration is required. Participants should wear waterproof shoes.

Bennington resident Robert “Roc” Kauffmann was introduced to the practice in 2009, while living in Ithaca, NY. On March 16, 2010, he began conducting stone balancing as a daily practice. He soon discovered that there are people practicing this art form all over the world. Through connections on social media, Roc traveled the world, meeting fellow stone balancers and attending gatherings and demonstrations in Porto Nova, Italy; Ottawa, Ontario; Flagstaff Arizona;, Sarasota, Florida, San Francisco, and California, to just name a few places.

Roc has been a lifelong explorer, living in many states and even foreign countries since leaving his childhood home in Osprey, Florida in 1966. He moved to Bennington, in 2014, in order to take up work as a Mental Health Counselor in North Adams, MA. He has purchased a fixer-upper house that will likely take a lifetime to finish, so perhaps this will be the place where he settles down. He finds the selection of stones to work with amazing here and the water settings where he loves to conduct this work incredible. His passion is to share the practice of stone balancing any chance he gets.

This program is brought to you at no charge, but we encourage you to support Bennington Museum programming with a donation of any size.