"Bringing Home the Wishing Stone" is a sculpture/public art installation by John T Young of Seattle. It is a giant colonnade of stones that embrace the viewers as they enter or depart from the train station. In configuration it is much like a dog sled team comprised of columns pulling the giant boulder, or more specific to the site, locomotives pulling a train. The railroad was instrumental in the evolution of Spokane and the sculpture celebrates that history. There are also references to ancient structures, such as Stonehenge and Greek and Egyptian historic sites.
A "wishing rock" is a rock found by children that contains a stripe in the middle of it as a result of sedimentary or metamorphic activity within the surrounding stone. They are cherished stones and always saved. The giant boulder is such a stone, on a massive scale (200 tons).
The sculpture was commissioned by the Spokane Arts Commission in 1994. More of Young's work can be seen on his website: http://faculty.washington.edu/jtyoung.
Sedimentary Rocks
Forms when pieces of older rocks and other loose material get pressed together – they are cemented together.
Metamorphic Rocks
Forms when heat and pressure change the structure of an existing rock. The texture, mineralogy or chemical composition of a rock changes but it doesn’t melt the rock.
Basalt Rocks
Darker in color, fine grained, forms at the surface
Granite Rocks
Light in color, course grained, forms on the continents deep under ground
Questions:
Which rock(s) in the sculpture are basalt?
Which rock(s) in the sculpture are granite?
Do you think that the wishing rock stripe was formed via sedimentary or metamorphic activity? Why do you think that?