Cornell students' handiwork is part of art creation in Washington, D.C.

Three Cornell students worked with artist Andy Goldsworthy in the construction of "Roof." Katherine Schiavone

Three Cornell students worked alongside British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, an Andrew D. White Professor at Large at Cornell, in helping to construct a permanent art installation at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. The students -- Katherine Schiavone'07, architecture, and Jane Padelford and Danna Kinsey, both landscape architecture graduate students -- joined Goldsworthy and his team of British dry stonewallers in December, stacking slabs of slate to create the work titled "Roof." The work features nine large, hollow domes of stacked Buckingham Virginia slate, each with a center oculus. The students assisted in calcutating dimensions for the domes, marking locations for construction, delivering slate to the work sites, and hands-on construction. Cornell-in-Washington provided housing for the students during their stay.

Goldsworthy delivered a talk on the work-in-progress at the National Gallery on Jan. 27. According to the National Gallery Web site, "Roof" is the second phase of a two-part project. The first phase took place in the fall of 2003 on Government Island, Stafford, Va., when Goldsworthy spent nine days making ephemeral work on the site of the Aquia Creek sandstone quarry, the source of the stone with which the U.S. Capitol and the White House were originally built. The historic quarry was an ideal site for the artist, whose temporary works mark the human presence in the environment. Goldsworthy documented his work with a diary and photographs, now owned by the National Gallery.

Goldsworthy's project will be completed this month. Since his professor-at-large appointment in 2000, Goldsworthy has involved Cornell students in his sculpture installations at the Storm King Art Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Galerie LeLong and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Goldsworthy also has arranged for the donation of stones from the Museum of Jewish Heritage project for an installation in Cornell Plantations, with a dedication ceremony planned for this May.