River artist a rock star

POTSDAM — A Potsdam artist who quietly spent the past summer and fall crafting stone sculptures in the middle of the Raquette River is gaining new admirers of his work now that the autumn leaves have fallen.

Edward F. Schneider is an associate professor of information and communications technology at SUNY Potsdam and his elaborate stone pilings criss-crossing between Sugar Island and Fall Island in Potsdam have become more noticeable now that foliage has left the trees.

His work is being compared by some to the art of award-winning British environmentalist and nature sculptor Andy Goldsworthy.

Mr. Goldsworthy, who lives in Scotland, is famous for producing sculpture and landscape art using natural objects.

Mr. Schneider, 38, a resident of Bay Street, said he had never heard of the Scottish sculptor until his wife recently showed him a picture of his work.

He said she found a similarity after watching him spend the summer paddling a kayak into the middle of the Raquette River and building stone sculptures from piles of rocks left a century earlier by north country loggers.

The stones were once used to jam up thousands of timbers cut in the big woods to the south and then floated north along the Raquette River to be sawed into lumber at the mills in Potsdam.

Mr. Schneider's identity as the "Raquette River Sculptor" remained unknown until recently when a group of frequent paddlers of the Raquette in Potsdam began an e-mail circle to find out who was responsible for the growing number of intricate stone pilings.

When contacted recently, Mr. Schneider confessed he started the project as a way to get more college students and local teenagers interested in the beautiful nature flowing through their backyard.

"I'll bet half of the students who go to Clarkson or Potsdam never go out on the river," Mr. Schneider said. "This year is just an experiment. Next year I hope to do something bigger."

RoseMaria Rivezzi, one of those who helped spearhead the search for the artist behind the piles, said she is convinced that Potsdam's Schneider and Mr. Goldsworthy are cut from the same natural cloth.

"I like the sculptures in Potsdam because they do remind me of the ephemeral art of Andy Goldsworthy," Ms. Rivezzi said. "Made to be beautiful in a moment, to catch someone by surprise, just with the natural things at hand .... never meaning for them to last."

Mr. Schneider said he has no formal art training, but has been piling rocks as a hobby since he was a teenager growing up in the Champlain Valley. He said the rocks in Potsdam are heavy, with some weighing as much as 150 pounds. For that reason he maneuvers each rock underwater where they are easier to handle, and once he decides what rock goes where, hoists it into place.

"I do that instead of going to the gym," he said.

Mr. Schneider calculates he has built about 20 or 30 of the stone piles in the Raquette this year and would like to hear from others interested in expanding the project next year.

He said his long-term goal is to get people interested in the river and its history in Potsdam.

To contact Mr. Schneider, e-mail him at schneief@potsdam.edu.