www.metro.net:
This artist and the architect team designed station emphasizes and celebrates the appeal of both classical architecture and nature. Glass-clad columns with shaped metal capitals provide stark contrast to the beauty of natural-looking rock formations found at all levels of the station, including the entrance area. Through their design, the artist and architect invite passengers to question their relationship to the environment and technology.
Artist George Stone designed the rock formations based on the actual geology of this location. During the collaborative process, both artist and architect enthusiastically embraced the concept of inserting seemingly natural rocks within the contours of the traditionally designed station 'box.' The unusual sculptures provide multiple levels of meaning. For example, their authenticity reminds riders that the station exists within a natural geological setting while their artificiality recalls illusory theatrical props used in the movie industry as well as the area’s numerous theme parks.
George Stone: 'Our mutually respectful differences in approach and aesthetic interests became the strength of our collaborative efforts. What resulted as a synthesis of our differences is a juxtaposition of nature—the earth strata— to the epitome of civilization—the architectural structure.'
Anil Verma (architect): 'The Team carefully coordinated the location, massing and shape of the rockwork to maximize the power of nature over the man-made environment, and to portray the contrast between the classic and the primal, the sleek, high-tech functional space of the subway and the raw earthy mass it displaces.'

www.nytimes.com:
The first thing commuters will see while entering Vermont / Beverly Station is a giant outcropping of sandy-colored rock that straddles the entrance. Looming ominously over the escalators down to the trains, it looks like a leftover from the desert scenes in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'
'I wanted to reveal the relationship of the subway to its geological environment,' said George Stone, a sculptor commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to enliven this station. 'Architecture in general tends to hide the fact of its location, even the fact, in this case, that we are underground.'
What Mr. Stone calls his 'art rocks' -- three more of the prefabricated boulders hang from the roof of the pristine, marble-floored station below -- are part of one of the most imaginative public art programs in the country. Though other cities, including New York, have major subway art initiatives, Los Angeles is distinct for insisting that artists be included at the planning stages.
'What is exciting about this program is the experimental way in which the art has been worked into the design process right from the beginning,'' said Elizabeth Smith, a curator at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. ''A subway station used to be the province of the engineer and the architect. Now the artist has been allowed to to have a profound impact on the physical aspect of the space.'

www.wikipedia.org:
Vermont / Beverly Station features a cactus garden and large rocks incorporated into the structure of the station, a design by artist George Stone.

www.metro.net:
George Stone is a Los Angeles native. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Cal State Long Beach and a Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. Stone is the recipient of numerous awards, and has had his work exhibited and reviewed throughout the region, nationally, and in France and Japan. Stone incorporates advanced technologies, sound, movement, and a sense of irony into his work.