A Piece of Landart

In this piece of work, we are asked to create a piece of land/environmental art within a specific site, in our locality.  This will be following in the footsteps of such greats as Andy Goldsworthy, Richard Long, Nancy Holt.

Gulp.
No pressure then!!

The task, for us as for them, is to design the piece using only materials found on the chosen site. We are to record our work as it progresses, is finished, and as it decays.  By it's very nature, this is an ephemeral form of art.
The first job is to find the spot where we would like to do our work, and photograph it.  This was really exciting, thinking of all the wonderful places near here, and the endless possibilities.  Andy Goldsworthy's book, Time, which we have, is a real inspiration.  But almost too much so, that I find it hard to get his ideas out of my head and I really want to come up with my own.

Our next job is to make a sketchbook, in which we will record and develop ideas for the project.  This is to be a handmade book, and to be a piece of art in its own right.  I enjoy this work very much, although it takes me much longer than I would ever have anticipated!

I realise that my time is really very limited, with little day light, Christmas looming (and nothing done on that front!), much work to be done in other areas of the course, and of course blooming awful weather.... so I decide Not to go up the mountain, or into my neighbours lovely wood, but stick to my own field where 12 years ago I planted a tiny woodland (miniscule!!).

There is now an oak of reasonable size, and a lovely Birch with a colourful stem and 2 trunks; these have definite possibilities.

Oak

Birch below

I scour the field for other materials, determined to only use what is in the immediate vicinity.

My list includes many nettles ( dead stems only) 

brambles (some lovely yellow leaves with spines on their backs)

dead grass 

some clumps of seedy looking Robin Run the Hedge or Stickweed as its also known.

I also find the rapidly decaying seeds of Spindle; gorgeous combinations of orange and pink, 

hawthorn

grasses with seed heads, and so on.  These will be very useful for my home made sketch book; did I mention? we have to make one and fill it with images (drawn with charcoal) and ideas using only natural materials such as mud.  

Here is my hand made sketchbook: (the outer cover is a bought bit of hand made paper that I have had

for years and not dared cut up...)

I used some green coloured hemp to tie it, and a little twig to secure it.  

I used many different types of paper including some that I made myself

This took quite a bit of work, but I felt it was worth it, to incorporate some 

of the elements from the field that I mentioned above. (seedy bits, grassy bits....) It took ages to dry, and was pretty fragile, but hey, it was a technique I was curious to try, and quite fun to do.

I tacked some muslin onto a picture frame

and stretched it REALLY tightly; my first attempt taught me that this is

essential! I followed the instructions as above, using soaked cartridge paper to form

a pulp, in a washing up bowl.  the frame is gently lowered upside down into the mix and 'catches' some of the mixture.  Carefully lift it up and allow the water to drain through the muslin so that a layer of paper mush is

left on the muslin. I sprinkled some seeds and interesting bits I had gathered onto the pulp....A large car sponge can be used at this stage to press firmly onto the mix

and ensure that it is even.  I then turned it upside down onto a waiting clean j cloth, and dried it overnight.

eh voila!  I love the delicate colours that result from different materials 

which were used in the making.  You can also see a bit of texture from the j cloth.

Other papers included: - ordinary A4 photocopy paper that I dipped in tea and coffee 

(very fragile end result, but nice delicate colours)

-some celophane packaging from cards that I saved, and proved very useful for putting fragile items into

-Tracing paper; I formed a little sealed pouch for one of the pages to contain seeds

I also took lots of bark and leaf rubbings.   Initially I did these using wax crayons, but I felt their colours

were too bright for the sketch book, which was very au naturel.  

Different leaves from the woodland floor.

this is a very obvious chestnut leaf!

these are rubbings of bracken; I think they worked well.

More bracken, but different colours.

Bark rubbing.

Chestnut leaf on newspaper.

I used some of these initial bright coloured rubbings to form the beginnings of a sketch book, 

but I really wasn't happy with the results.

This features a cover using bark rubbings and bits of paper I had lying about.

This is a page using a central (blue) rubbing, with a christmas cracker hat! 

linking to the environment in terms of its colour. But not making me happy!!

Heres another couple of pages, featuring some bought hand made paper 

in a sort of teal colour.

So I started again, using more natural colours (colouring pencils rather than wax crayons)

These are some grasses:

And below various leaves including wild cherry (left hand side),

& bramble, oak and wild cherry in the blue colour.

Below are some nettles, still sporting a few leaves at this late stage of the year.

I think they make beautiful rubbings; so much detail.

So, here are some pages from my second attempt to make a sketch book!

Above (right hand page) you can see bracken rubbings,  and on the left is the cover, which is 

a bought piece of lovely hand made paper. I used a piece of green hemp string to tie the whole book securely, even though it is sewn together.

shown below are bramble rubbings on the 

left hand page.

On the right is a piece of my own hand made paper, complete with seeds of all

sorts from the site.

Shown below is a page made using tracing paper, of a fairly thick 

quality, which I used as an envelope page to house some delicate seed structures

from tall summer flowering species. 

Here are the central pages, featuring very easily torn paper

which was ordinary photocopy paper dipped in coffee.

I have used bark to patch a few torn bits, and have used some grasses

almost like book markers.  

 The next stage: design ideas

I photographed my site (see beginning of this section), & then printed out some of the relevant areas in black and white.  This was really helpful as I used these to start sketching in some ideas.  For instance:

Here, I have drawn on one of the tree limbs, a wrapped section in olive green.  

This idea came about as a result of some nettle experiments I did on the first day of the project

in the warmth of my kitchen!!

Here are some nettles, or rather the dead remnants of the earlier lusty growth last summer.

some of the stems

I began by weaving some, in a very simple in and out method

It was testing, as they were really brittle.  But I thought there were 

definite possibilities with this idea.  

The roots! Wonderfully gnarled.

formation of a rough circle with the less dense roots. It sort of worked.

This was another of my ideas, resulting from my nettle experiments. 

I liked the idea of forming a pod shape around one of the trunks.

I have drawn in a yellow detail, running vertically in and out of the nettle weavings, 

which I thought could be done using yellow bramble leaves.

Making the piece:

I decided to go with the nettle idea, and so I gathered lots of dead stems:

A neat bundle awaits my attention

Some of the longest and strongest stems were leant in a vertical position against the trunk, and some slightly

thinner ones used for the horizontal weavers.

I quickly realised that they were far too brittle; too advanced in the year I reckon, for flexibility.

Definitely not a working option! Splitting all the way through with very little bend.

On to plan 2: 

Second Design option 

And so I drew a fantasy nest on my tree picture (below)

And a slightly different one below

 there was a lot of 'Stickweed' or 'Robin hunt the hedge', in the hedges nearby, and I 

reckoned this would be a great material to use for my nest. 

Making the Nest

Below, Robin hunt the hedge, in my hedge:

Here I start to wind it around the trunk

I reckoned keeping the nettles I have already used, would be helpful in 

fixing the nest in position.

It is taking a lot more material than I had foreseen

Looking a tad straggly!

the afternoon light quickly fades

My piece is definitely plumping up nicely, and looking more nest- like now!

With a happy heart I stopped work for the day & headed in to think about dinner.

My intentions were very good: I hoped to finish  off the next day

by adding a lot more pieces of extraneous materials to the nest, such as leaves and moss.

However, between weather and Christmas, it was another week at least before I 

got back to the project.

It was looking a little deconstructed to say the least.

I had run out of Robin Run the Hedge, so felt a little

bit forlorn myself. I didn't really feel excited about my nest any more

and so rightly or wrongly decided to move onto my next design idea!

I think the freezing cold temperatures had a LOT to do with this.....

Design idea no 3:

Perhaps a little bit ambitious, but I had been leafing (har har) through 

my lovely Andy Goldsworthy book.....

My intention was (if you can read my scrawly notes) to paste two of the trees 'arms'

with yellow bramble leaves, and then suspend 'hoops' of nettle stems from these.

As I had learned from earlier trials, the nettle hoops were not going to work out, 

far too brittle. So, I thought maybe I could make hoops using ice.

Nice!!

The forecast was for a very cold night, and so I got to work making some experimental

ice circles, using buckets within buckets (in order to form a central hole)

Here are my experiments:

I poured approximately 6 inches of water into the yellow large bendy bucket 

then put a second bucket (also with about 6" of water) standing in it.  I put a large granite stone in it

to hopefully form a lovely central hole. My plan was that this hole would be very useful 

for attaching to the tree branch.

Idid a similar thing with the second bucket, this time using a green plastic fishing float.

I suspended some bracken leaves in the water, thinking it might make an interesting detail.

And the same to the second bucket, shown above.

Next morning:

both had frozen very nicely!

And now to get the ice out!! Note the kettle....

I managed to get the float out, leaving an imperfect hole in the centre; still

not bad I reckoned.

Here is a pic of the attempt to get the second ice circle out...

with disastrous consequence!

I pieced the bits together in an attempt to form a  circle

Neither worked.

Oh so sad.

I gathered up the bits, and thought how could i 

make this work.

On my way to my site, I passed my wheelbarrow, full of frozen water.

I sliced into it with the garden fork

and added these chunky pieces of randomly sized ice to my collection.

Onwards!

This little vignette has given me a bit of inspiration!

I decide to place it at the foot of my cherry tree, with its lovely orange red bark.

here's another view. (above)

Using the chunky pieces of smashed ice from my wheelbarrow,

I place these also at the foot of the tree, in another direction.

I  stack them up, in different orientations. 

It starts to grow nicely.  I begin to like it.

It really is a perishingly cold day, but beautiful.  Look at those oak leaves,

veins and spores are all visible.

2 little ice sculptures, completed at about 10.30 am.

Here they are at lunchtime; still in good nick.

the day gradually warms up; by lunchtime most of the frost has gone.  But the ice

sculptures remain intact, for much of the rest of the day.

By late afternoon, it starts to rain. 

The sharp edges are softening

Yet they are remarkably slow to thaw; still recognisable at dusk when I go in 

for the evening.

All in all, not a bad day's work.  I have achieved a sculpture at last!!