Good Old Andy

Now of course, I can’t write an art blog without mentioning at least one of my all-time favourite artists. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the esteemed Mr. Andy Goldsworthy.

Andy Goldsworthy

™Andy Goldsworthy was born 1956, he is a British sculptor and photographer who collaborates with nature to make his creations

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™The physical survival of his sculptures is rare, but Goldsworthy photographs his sites before, during, and after he creates his structures within the landscape, so it’s his photographs that serve as permanent records of each piece.

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™ While most of Goldsworthy’s well-known works are created outdoors in remote locations (usually in places that hold a personal significance to him), some of his pieces have been shown in galleries, and his reputation as a progressive and environmentally conscious artist has made him a popular candidate for public commissions.

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™Besides England and Scotland, Goldsworthy’s work has been created in the North Pole, Japan, Canada,  the Australian Outback, Europe, in the U.S., and many more.

Goldsworthy working on a piece

Let’s talk create processes…

Andy™ Goldsworthy regards his creations as transient, or ephemeral.

™Ephemeral is defined as something, often related to nature, only existing for a brief time – translated from the Greek word ephemeros, literally “lasting only one day”

As we know, ™he photographs each piece right after he makes it, as well as a few times during his progress physically creating it.

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™Goldsworthy’s goal is to understand nature by directly participating in it as intimately as he can. And as for materials and tools, for the most part he generally works with whatever comes to hand: twigs, leaves, stones, snow and ice, reeds, thorns, etc. That’s some pretty spontaneous art, I mean you might have an idea of what you want to make and how it will look in the end, but all of that can change as soon as you get on site and survey the landscape to see what you’ve got to work with that day.

But if you’re Andy Goldsworthy, that stuff doesn’t bother you in the least. As they say, when life gives you lemons… go out there and make some art.

“I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and “found” tools–a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn.”

~ Andy Goldsworthy

“I want to get under the surface. When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material in itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue.”

~ Andy Goldsworthy

Touching North, North Pole. 1989.

“Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.”

~ Andy Goldsworthy

“Looking, touching, material, place and form are all inseparable from the resulting work. It is difficult to say where one stops and another begins. The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within. The weather — rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm — is that external space made visible. When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space around it. It is not independent of its surroundings, and the way it sits tells how it came to be there.”

~ Andy Goldsworthy

“The underlying tension of a lot of my art is to try and look through the surface appearance of things. Inevitable, one way of getting beneath the surface is to introduce a hole, a window into what lies below.”

~ Andy Goldsworthy

 

Unfortunately, it’s actually quite difficult to find many facts (and even names for that matter) of Goldsworthy’s sculptures. But, here are some that I did manage to find. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Rowan Leaves and Hole

Year: October 25, 1987

Medium: Rowan leaves laid around hole
collecting the last few leaves
nearly finished
dog ran into hole
started again

Location:made in the shade on a windy, sunny day
Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Tree Spiral: Tree Soul

Year: January 12, 1987

Medium: Icicles, around tree trunk; thick ends dipped in snow then water
held until frozen together
occasionally using forked sticks as support until stuck
a tense moment when taking them away
breathing on the stick first to release it

Location: Scaur Water, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Icicle Star

Year: January 12, 1987

Medium: Icicles and saliva

Location: Scaur Water, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Snow Circles

Year: December 19, 1987

Medium: Frozen snow
cut slab
scraped snow away with a stick
just short of breaking through

Location: Bright sunny morning in Izumi-Mura, Japan

Pebbles Broken and Scraped

Year: 1985

Medium: Pebble, scratched white with another stone and carefully broken

Location: St. Abbs, Scotland

And finally, the creme de la creme… Storm King Wall.

So, remember when I mentioned some of Goldsworthy’s pieces were actually made to last. Well this would certainly be one of them. The famed Storm Kings Wall was built between 1997 and 1998.

Storm King Wall

This sculpture was Goldsworthy’s first museum commission for a permanent piece in the United States.

Now, originally when Goldsworthy began work on his wall in Mountainville New York, he planned to have the structure measure 750 feet. However, when the wall hit a giant oak tree (where it was supposed to end), the artist decided it was only right to keep on going to the nearby pond… which of course led to the wall continuing on the other side of the water  right up to the New York State Thruway (because that’s clearly the only logical option that makes sense). All in all, this snake-like dry stone wall measures a total of – are you ready for this – an impressive 2,278 feet!

It is Goldsworthy single largest installation piece to date. To be honest, I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to top that length, but if he’s ever possessed with the desire to try, then I can’t wait to see how it turns out!