by Brian Rust
Nationally known artist Brian Rust of Augusta, Ga., conceived Touch Stones as a seating area that balances elements in a natural state with elements in a circle. Installed in July 2007 and funded by the Winthrop University Alumni Association, the piece is an arrangement of large natural stones which act as a counter balance in the midst of poured concrete benches. Woven into Rust's art is a sense of age and change over time. He muses that his projects "look like they had a life before and are now taking on a second life.”