EarthSeed #1001 [Broomhill]

Article in Artist & Illustrators Magazine Summer 2010

EarthSeed #1001 Broomhill

The journey for me with this piece is at an end - well for the next few months anyway. It will be on view along with work from the other competition finalists until the end of summer 2010. I am excited by the result; I feel it sits well within the site. The transformation from concept, through the stages of 'growth' in the workshop, to final placement has been different from other works which I have made. The most obvious being that it did physically 'grow' with the continuous coiling of the wire slowly creeping outwards taking on shapes which often seemed to be dictated by factors of chance and natural limitations.

Over the next few months the bark bedding will dry and deteriorate and the grasses and ferns are likely to creep in on it again which will be interesting and appropriate. An unexpected aspect has been that when viewed from a distance (as in the photograph) the layers of cableties surrounding the piece become visually compressed, appearing to give it an added 3 dimensional halo effect. I hope that visitors to the gardens will feel encouraged to touch the piece - stroking the hard spikey cabletie ends and contrasting this with the smooth polished surface of the rounded Cotswold stone. This is integral to the experience when considering the piece.

Thanks for their help to:

Paul Gifford of Aventix Workwear (www.itsmykit.com)

Richard Cotterell of Booth & Bomford (http://www.boothbomford.co.uk)

Rinus and Aniet van de Sande of Broomhill Art Hotel (http://www.broomhillart.co.uk)

EarthSeed #1001 Broomhill

This is it! Will be finishing off the spiral tomorrow. I'm really pleased with the shape and character of the piece. I said in one of my earlier blogs that it has deviated from my original drawings; I have allowed it in some ways to dictate the flow of the shape. It now has a far more 'organic' feel to it. All the better because of the obvious nature of the Man-made material. I'm looking forward to placing it in the wilds of the sculpture park. I will dig it into the soil to about 3 cm and perhaps sow some wild grass seed around it....hmmm not too sure about this. I'll take direction from the area immediately around it. I'll be loading the piece up on Tues night for the trip to Broomhill on Wed 26th. If all goes to plan it will be installed either that afternoon or the following morning.

EarthSeed #1001 Broomhill

Installation is in little over a week. Nearly finished. No nasty surprises. Now to think through all the possible complications of installation....

Earthseed #1001 Broomhill

Earthseed #1001 Broomhill

A frustrating setback: the new cable I have ordered is a slightly different shade of blue. Easy to be corrected I hope. But there is always humour - it is not often that an electrical supplies business is confronted by a client who is returning an order and re-ordering due to the shades of cable not matching!

Earthseed #1001 Broomhill

To make it easier for me to secure the wire underneath the piece I have been fortunate to have the use of a forklift [courtesy of a friend who owns www.itsmykit.com ]. This has made the whole operation so much easier and quicker.

With the weight of the sandstone and cable (now 300+ metres) it was becoming too difficult to tilt it and then prop it safely for me to have convenient access.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the shape is deviating from the clean swollen lines which I had originally intended; the wavy and indented contours are giving it a life that has become more inkeeping with it being an 'earthseed'.

The body is starting to take shape. Although I had a fairly clear expectation of how I thought the form would develop, I'm finding that as I progress it feels as if it is starting to dictate to me how it should grow.

Today a passerby in the workshop stopped, looked at the 'basket weaving', thought for a few seconds and then asked, "What are you recovering from?" So this is what therapy is all about.

I did my first run of cable around the 'seed'. About 2 metres. Only ±400 to go. Already feel as if I'm getting into the flow of it. The actions of securing one loop to another are quite exacting and obviously quite repetitive. I feel a dose of iTunes / Spotify and the radio fast approaching.

Finished welding the framework which will support the carved stone.

Original sketch of my proposal

The concept and design I submitted to the competition jurors is for an 'Earth Seed' - a free standing piece using both man-made and natural materials. This has been a fairly consistent theme in my research and practice. For this particular piece I am using carved natural Cotswold sandstone [the 'seed'], ± 400m of 10mm diameter plastic sheathed electric cable, and thousands of industrial cable-ties.

I have carved one 'seed', but was concerned that it was perhaps a little too worked and flat in perspective, and wouldn't sufficiently enforce the notion of an earth seed being borne of the man-made elements. So I carved another which is higher and more rounded and a lot less worked. In the end I have decided on my first approach (so often the first instinct is the correct one) as although it is initially less visible it implies that there is much more of it encased within the man-made shell.

OK, so my first post worked.

An introduction: For 30+ years I have worked as a photojournalist servicing newspapers, magazines, charities and design companies. After many years making sculptures for my own interest I successfully submitted to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2007. This encouraged me to study sculpture, which I did, completing my MA at Wimbledon College of Art in September 2009.

To view a selection of my current work as well as some images from my career as a photojournalist please visit my website:

www.glynngriffiths.com

So much still to do.....and yes, so little time

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