Ken Turnell – Bogle Crag – 1978
Material: Wood
Trail: Bogle Crag Trail
Theme: Humanity
Form: Figurative – Human
Maps Featured on: 1981 – pre 1984
Status: Removed, no remains
Ken Turnell made four abstract wooden sculptures while at Grizedale regarding all of them he explains “I do not wish to talk directly about the work, only to say all the sculptures were often titled as watchers or observers of their particular forest region.”
An initial sculpture was created made of oak it “was made from one piece, but sculpturally it was poor and was destroyed.” The four artworks that survived “were made from previously cut large beech branches and one large beech stump (weighing about three tons) which I cut and transported from Hawkshead village to the forest.”
Sited on the first bend in the road above Bogle crag, Beech Watch (to me at least) seems to resemble a human figure reaching backwards with one arm to grab the foot of his raised leg. Apparently decommissioned by 1984. In an article from that year in The Slasher it was explained that “Ken Turnell’s beech wood works have already rotted to the point where they have had to be removed”. The concrete it stood in still remains.
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Forest Flight– 1978
Sawrey Bank Watch – 1978
The Rider (Forest Traveller) – 1978
The Eye – 1984
Wall Relief – 1984
Page last updated April 2020
Grizedale Forest Sculpture An Unofficial Archive 