HEYSHAM WITH RICHARD

Today (Saturday 21st August) I went on another Land Art trip to Heysham with Richard Shilling. The purpose of todays project was to experiment with an idea Richard has for a proposal he is putting together for Lancaster University regarding the new LICA Building.

I helped Richard today in as much as building one side of the wall (the left). It was great working with Richard - he has given me inspiration for my practical outcomes over the last two meetings and watching and listening to him at work has helped me to focus more on what I want to achieve from this final dissertation of my MA. - Thanks Richard for putting up with me!!!

Above are a few of the images from todays piece of land art.

FIRST ATTEMPT AT LAND ART

During the day spent with Richard Shilling up in Lancaster I took some time to create my first piece of land art. It was really good to begin working with nature and the items around me.

I decided to produce something that depicted life & decay and collected leaves from around me, some fallen from the trees and others hand picked.

I used some thorns that Richard had collected from previous searches to knit together the leaves and then began to wind them around the tree. The line of leaves used depicted life and death through their colour from a vivd green at the base of the tree showing life to a decaying brown to depict death and decay.

This was pinned to the tree again using natural thorns to keep the piece in place. Over the corse of the rest of the day the wind and rain took over the piece by twisting and flipping the leaves giving them a totally different effect.

Below is a snap shot of what was created.

A DAY WITH RICHARD SHILLING

Saturday 7th August I took a trip up to Lancaster to meet up with Land Artists Richard Shilling.

Richard agreed to let me tag along with him on one of his "Art Days" which he does whenever he has spare time, mostly on Saturdays as he works full time during the week as an IT Manager.

The day started off with a visit to Standen Park in Lancaster to collect materials to aid Richard with his art. As we walked through the Park Richard explained that up until early 2002 when he moved up to Lancaster from Kent he had never dreamed of doing anything such as land art and there was no real inspiration from his surroundings to do so. This changed when he made Lancaster his home. With an unlimited supply of resources and inspiration from the land around him Richard soon became interested in art this was helped by reading books by Andy Goldsworthy - this is still a big influence today on how Richard took up land art.

When talking about decay in nature Richard said: "Decay is a big part of nature. It is just a point in the whole cycle of life. Decaying matter becomes nutrients for the next new growth, before its death eventually comes around for the next round in life.

If I was to offer up some symbolism for this sculpture then I would say that the mud canvas is the nutrient rich food for all the new life and what the oak tree feeds on to grow and flourish. The leaves fall and rot onto the woodland floor and all their stages are present across the slab. The whole cycle of life is here."

Talking to Richard gave me a real insight into how he is inspired by what is around him and spending a whole day talking and watching him produce the piece below.

I am hoping to spend some time with Richard again over the coming weeks to help produce Land Art with Rocks and Stone close to where he lives.

RICHARD SHILLING

Richard Shilling is a sculptor, photographer and film maker working in the field of Land Art.

Land Art involves making sculptures using only natural materials gathered near to where the sculpture is made. Many of them are ephemeral and will last only a few short minutes before the wind or the tide takes it away. Soon after nothing remains and Richard attempts to capture the most vital and vibrant moment of each sculpture in a photograph.

He makes his sculptures in beautiful and wild natural places across the North of England. Particularly in Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire but he has also created sculptures in Scotland and the Himalaya. He uses snow, leaves, wood and stone and anything else that mother nature can provide.

I have been fortunate enough to make contact with Richard over the last week and I am hoping to experience watching him at work (or even helping) on one of his land art projects. His work is really interesting as shown below - his skill at manipulating nature and the resources around him is inspiring to me and what I want to achieve from taking on this MA.