Straight Shot

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Perhaps it isn't easy to tell from the angle of my shot, but these stones form a straight line. Not just any straight line. I learned from the nearby plaque on the ground that they are perfectly aligned in calibrated intervals. They are an art installation erected by Perri Lynch in 2007. "In land surveying, as in art, spatial relationships may be expressed through classic algebraic terms. Between each pair of stones, the distance doubles over the course of a measured kilometer. Field adjustments have been made in tune with natural forms and features. One may sight through [holes in] the stones, taking up the stance of a surveyor. In this particular case it's a straight shot."

Do you see the two holes that are bored into each stone? They are perfectly aligned so that you can look through them from beginning to end. The stones are in an orderly progression from south to north and mark the Sandpoint Calibration Baseline in Magnuson Park. Seattle Public Utilities uses the baseline to calibrate its equipment, and it is also used by surveying, engineering, public safety, law enforcement, transportation and scientific entities to verify accuracy and calibrate their electronic distance measurement equipment. So, in this piece of art's case, form truly does follow function. It's not quite Stonehenge, but at least if you come upon it you'll have an inkling what it's about. Don't you wish the Druids or whomever had left an explanatory plaque near the stone circles they erected in Britain? Those also seem to blend scientific and artistic purposes. The hole we are peering through below does not seem quite perfectly round because a spider had built a nest sac in there :-).