STart Cairns
ARTIST'S NOTES
To find cairns in hiking is to know you’re on the right path. They answer our hope for safety, for direction, and perhaps for emotional balance, calm and tranquillity.
These cairns for the Convention Center refer:
To human journeys.
To the glaciers which carved the region 14,000 years ago with ice and stone and stopped just south of Tacoma.
To the rivers of the Northwest which tumbled these rocks to size.
To the Tacoma waterfront.
To Buddhist temples such as the one that was formerly sited nearby.
To nature and technology in balance.
cairn n.
A mound of stones erected as a memorial or marker. [Middle English carne,from Scottish Gaelic carn, from Old Irish.]
balance n.
2. A state of equilibrium or parity characterized by cancellation of all forces by equal opposing forces.
5. A stable mental or psychological state; emotional stability.
6. A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements, as in a design.
7. An influence or force tending to produce equilibium; counterpoise.
— The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Ed.