Stacking up to Two³

I wonder if Durham artist Vernon Pratt ever imagined the delight he would give the kids of our city long after the Royall Center for the Arts was built and dedicated. “All the Possibilities of Stacking Up to Two³ to Sit On” reads the inscription by Pratt in 1988. Had he known, he might have added the words “. . . and to Play Games On.”

These granite cubes embedded in the yard of the Durham Arts Council building have hosted freeze tag, hide and seek, and—when children get older—games with elaborate rules that mystify adults. These blocks belong to the kids, right in the middle of the city where the grit of buses and ever-present road construction have replaced the sweet smell of tobacco.

This is old-fashioned play: the kids are in charge, fashioning fun from the tools at hand. No adults run along the sidewalk blowing whistles and refereeing disputes, and parents aren’t shrieking from the sidelines. They talk amongst themselves or their minds wander elsewhere as their kids leap from one cube to another, defying the sharp edges of the blocks.

It’s a peaceful place, these cubes stacked upon cubes. A respite from a frantic world that doesn’t give children enough rest.

I think Professor Pratt may have known after all. Stacking up possibilities is endless when you mix an artist’s vision with the imaginative world of childhood and give them a chance to flourish.