Endless Ball (and Bulgarian fish traps)

I made the most of the sunny day last weekend and took myself to Stave Hill Ecological Park to complete a piece for Sculptural, an exhibition at Coombe Trenchard, which I’ve also mentioned  in the previous post.

I wasn’t the only one with the idea to make the most of the day in the park and while weaving brambles, many walkers came to enquire as to what I was doing. One woman told me how it reminded her of the lampshades she used to make in her village in Bulgaria using string and homemade glue (a mix of flour and water) over an inflated ball. These were then left to dry in the sun before deflating the ball and piercing a hole to insert the light fitting.

I knew about these and you probably do too, but I was surprised when she also told me about the fish traps she made with her dad using reeds and the same interlacing technique (see Practical Basketry Techniques for more practical tips on this). The skill is to gage the size of the fish you will be catching in the pond, then weave a ball with holes big enough to allow the fish to go in, using bread as bait, but small enough not to allow it to turn around and escape. The top hole, floating just above the level of the water, allows you to get the fish out when it is caught. How about that for ingenious and economical design!  

I’ll have to do a little research on these traps but through a little foraging and making at Stave Hill and this chance encounter I have a pretty good idea of what these might look like already.

Endless Columns

‘Thinking is one of the great pleasures of working outdoors’ – Roger Deakin

Two weeks ago now seems like a whole season away. Looking at pictures I took then while working on an outdoor sculpture for a forthcoming exhibition at Coombe Trenchard, I’m struck by how wintery the woodland now appears.  We’ve since then experienced some kind of heat wave and I imagine the trees there are now in leaf which will greatly change the appearance of the work. I very much look forward to seeing it again in a couple of weeks at the opening of the exhibition.

the site, before and during clearing 

Making the piece involved clearing brambles which are abundant throughout the upper woodland and then using these to weave a number a number of stackable structures. The plan was to install these as columns rising from pools of water in the gardens and woodlands at Coombe Trenchard. Inspired by Brancusi’s Endless Column, I’ve written about the idea for this piece in sketches for spring(s) and more sketches for spring(s) on this blog, as well as an earlier post about a similar piece created for one of the ponds at Stave Hill Ecological Park.

outdoor studio

Working outdoors in this way is a time consuming process and allows for much thinking. While cutting back and weaving brambles over several days, I reconsidered the location where the work would be installed; the site where the brambles were cleared seemed the obvious setting for the work. I would be resurrecting the brambles there but in a different form - three columns winding themselves around an alder tree allowing brambles to do what they do best, but in this case, without the vine putting the host tree at risk.

Scale became an important consideration when producing the work; outdoor pieces can often be thwarted by their location. The shape and height of the sculpture was largely dictated by the the tree itself and the configuration and number of branches growing from its trunk that would support the woven brambles. My intention was to cause as minimal disturbance to the natural surroundings so to allow the visitors to come across the piece almost by chance as they walk around the pond and woodland. Just how discreet the piece now is amongst the new canopy of leaves, I’ll find out when I next visit. 

work in progress

How long will the piece last? Not forever, but then again what objects do? The beauty of working with wood is that it more or less lives and dies in human time scale, at least if we compare it with stone (another thought borrowed from Roger Deakin from Wildwood, also quoted above). The piece will last a few years and in this time, the living brambles might have reclaimed the area in which the piece is installed. It will be then be time to add to or remake the piece. The sculpture will be given a new lease of life, making us think about pattern of growth, life cycles and their enduring nature.

On a more practical note you might wonder whether this piece is for sale. It is. If you have grounds with the invasive plant pest and a desire for a sculptural intervention, I'll happily come along with my pair of leather gloves and secateurs and be a resident artist creating new site specific works.

more work in progress

more sketches for spring(s)

One creative idea sparks another. While on a recce at Coombe Trenchard planning the making and installing of sculptures to be part of an an exhibition there (see previous post), various ideas came to mind, including this one below.

I came across the avenue of trees (below) while looking for locations to install the work and thought of the following idea: how about weaving a canopy between trees. Using a similar technique to the one used to create installations in Darlington and Edinburgh, I'd strap on wooden stilts to weave at a height that then allows visitors to meander between the trees when walking through to the woodland area of the estate. I'm completely up for that acrobatic challenge and will think of this as a draft proposal for the 2017 instalment of the show at Coombe Trenchard. So, George Marsh, curator of the event, be prepared!

sketches for spring(s)

I’m recently back from a visit at Coombe Trenchard where I'v been preparing for an exhibition curated by sculptor Julian Wild and George Marsh, director of the William Benington gallery. It was a glorious weekend with bright sunshine and blue skies, perfect weather for experiencing the stunning gardens and woodlands on the estate where a number of outdoor site responsive sculptures will be installed from early May through to the end of June.

While at Coombe Trenchard I walked around the grounds equipped with a pair of secateurs, collecting materials I thought I might work with and identifying places where the sculptures might be installed. My plan is to make the work on site using material that grows there.

I was hoping to find willow and thought the stream running through the woodland with its various ponds might be perfect locations to install sculptures made from this water loving tree. Seeing how much brambles there were on site however changed my mind. I tested weaving with them and created the pieces illustrated here. With nature all around and about springing back to life in the warm March sunshine, the planned spiralling bramble constructions rising from the water seemed a very fitting image indeed.

Where did the inspiration for this come from? Many things: recent projects, Dailymades, an outdoor piece installed at Stave Hill (see Brancusi baskets), the site at Coombe Trenchard and in this case, the weather and imminent change of season. Fingers crossed the weather  holds while I’m there making the sculptures for the show!