Eager to go beyond the basics of dry-stone walling—the craft of building stone walls without concrete mortar—Bryce Hollingsworth has journeyed around the U.S. and out of the country to learn from top wallers and masons.
Bryce knew early on that dry-stone walling was his niche. His first job as a laborer for a landscaper exposed him to a range of outdoor trades. Doing a lot of different jobs in a fairly short amount of time allowed Bryce to get a sense of what he liked—and what he didn’t.
With that in mind, he moved on to more specialized landscaping companies; first, one where he ran a landscaping crew and handled all of the stonework, and later one focused entirely on stone installations. “That’s when I really knew that stone is what gets me fired up,” he says.
“Going to Australia helped me get rid of some bad techniques and solidify some good ones, really practicing the fundamentals.”
– Bryce Hollingsworth, Dry-Stone Waller
Determined to build his skills, Bryce took certification courses at the Stone Trust in Vermont before heading to Australia, where he apprenticed with master craftsman Geoff Duggan. Because he usually worked alone, Bryce hadn’t had much access to real-time critique, and he describes this training as a game-changer.
“Going to Australia helped me get rid of some bad techniques and solidify some good ones, really practicing the fundamentals,” says Bryce. His walling improved dramatically. The following year, after studying at the Dry Stone Conservancy in Kentucky, he took another hands-on training trip, this time to Ireland, where he learned how to build with different types of stone and in different styles.
At this point, Bryce was ready to start his own company: Stone Bear Mason, LLC. In the beginning, work was inconsistent, so he subcontracted with other wallers and masons, willing to travel pretty much anywhere to learn through experience. “Each time you work with someone new,” Bryce says, “you get exponentially better than when you’re just doing the same old work yourself.” These days, Bryce is busy with his own business—but he’ll still hit the road for the right project.
— Jennifer Morris, FHB Editorial Assistant. Photo by David Foster.
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