Our purpose is to establish an ongoing international dialogue about contemporary displays that will help to promote stone appreciation. We encourage members of the global viewing stone community to create new ways of displaying stones that reflect your life in the 21st century, your regional geology, your customs, craft and culture. Unfamiliar types of stones, bases, accessories and materials are welcome. We are not confined to displaying viewing stones in either the traditional Japanese or Chinese manner. These are options available to us and we should respect and acknowledge the established ways of displaying stones, but they are not the only way. It is timely to explore exciting new options to create stone displays that have bases, display tables, and other accessories that reflect our regional and national arts and crafts.

Display by Jeffrey Shortt

Commentary by Richard Turner

“Checkmate” by Jeffrey Shortt is a witty take on contemporary stone display. Imagining the Gobi Desert ventifacts as chess pieces and thereby transporting them from the esoteric world of viewing stone appreciation into the pop culture world of Harry Potter’s Wizard’s Chess is a bold creative gambit. The stones beautifully embody the properties of the magical Wizard’s chess pieces, which are described as being alive and moving on their own. The stones dance and whirl as if choreographed by an unseen force. They appear to be in conversation with each other, as if plotting their next move. They not only personify the magical properties of Harry Potter’s chess pieces, but they also exemplify the Chinese concept of qi, the life force that animates the universe. I have never been a chess player. If I had been introduced to the game with a Gobi Desert ventifact set, I might have taken it up. Who knows?