By Leigh Calvez
An Exquisite stone labyrinth graces Hall’s Hill Lookout Park, a privately owned public park that overlooks Blakely Harbor. In June, Jeffery Bale, a stone artist from Portland, Oregon, completed the 11-circuit labyrinth, inspired by the famous Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France. Bale also created the stone cistern on the grounds of IslandWood. His work at Hall’s Hill was commissioned by two individuals who wish to remain anonymous.
With stones gathered from Rockaway, Point White and other beaches around Bainbridge, Bale spent six months sorting each stone, shell, geode and other found objects donated by the community into 12 piles of color, from yellows and blues to reds and blacks. He then hand placed each object into a slice of color corresponding with each of the 12 white moon-shaped mosaics (representing seasonal moons, or months) along the outer path. “It’s not just a path made out of cast concrete pavers,” Bale once commented. “It’s a path that connects you to the universe.”
When observed from the east, the labyrinth’s colors shift and change like the seasons. Flowers, lightning bolts and hearts are inlaid alongside other astonishments. Over 100 stones, reminiscent of Tibetan prayer beads, line the path of the 10th circuit. From the ninth circuit in, each path represents the orbit of one planet from Pluto to Mercury. At the center, the sun gleams.
