Alice Brock is “Alice” of “Alice’s Restaurant,” Arlo Guthrie’s iconic anti-war song of the 60’s. We discovered that she forages stones on the beaches around Provincetown, draws on them and leaves them in unexpected places: a perfect guerilla practice for the end of summer.

Write Alice:

I began drawing on beach stones many years ago. Right away I knew I was going to put some of them back on the beach. I imagined somebody walking along the seashore just daydreaming and looking at stones. And there’s a stone looking back! That vision really tickled me, and it still does.

When I moved to Provincetown, I was in heaven. So many stones…and so much time. Pretty soon I was putting my stones all over the place.

I put them on the shelves in the A&P and in sugar bowls. I leave them along the bike trails, drop them into coat pockets and put them on fence posts.

My friends have helped me to spread these stones around the world. Some have been placed in famous museums like the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art, the Hermitage and the Tate. One was carried to the top of Mount McKinley, others are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. One was tossed over the Great Wall of China. Any number may be found on beaches in Alaska, New Zealand and Venezuela.

…I’d like to think that coming upon one of these stones will cause an involuntary flight of fancy.

 

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There are all sorts of patterns you can paint on stones. Here are beauties Max Ernst created….

…There’s a trove of painted stones here, to make, hold on to, or leave, guerilla-style, for someone to discover…