Richard Harris – Broad Piece – 1977
Material: Stone, Wood
Trail: Millwood Trail
Theme: Landscape
Form: Abstract
Maps Featured on: 1981 – 2020
Status: Still in situ, March ’24
Quote from the Artist: “On arriving at Grizedale my first concern was to explore the forest… to help me get a feel for the place. Then I concentrated on specific sites, making structures that were more substantial and able to hold their own, both physically and visually…. Cliff Structure grew from the site.”
“This was one of several places I found and worked on during my first months of exploring the forest. The materials came from the forest. The oak came from windblown trees nearby and was cut by hand. I split the wood with wedges to make it more removed from the surrounding trees – it became timber, a structural material, more appropriate to it’s use in construction.”
“Stone is fundamental to my work; in the forest the rock is never far from the surface, breaking through in craggy outcrops. I collected slate from old drystone walls which run through the forest, left over from the old field system. The rock face seemed as if it had been ripped away. I drew an arc of stone in the space where the rock may have been.”
The oldest artwork remaining in the forest, along with Harris’ Quarry Structure, having been in the forest for over 40 years. Positioned on the sloping hillside just above the Silurian way, directly above the visitor centre. Comprising of numerous oak beams leaning against a rock outcrop. Stone slabs from nearby dry stone walls sit on top of the beams, the weight of which keep the entire piece together. The photograph at the top is the oldest and shows it used to have a lot more wooden beams at least 14. Below a recent photo shows it now has 10.
Quote from the Artist “Cliff Structure taught me an important lesson about siting – I had assumed that everybody would walk right up to the sculpture, but as people could see it from the road, they often wouldn’t take the trouble to climb the ten or so yards up the bank to see it from all round.”
This waymaker is three shells on top of each other.
Photographs Taken September 2017
Photograph Taken 20th March 2020
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Tripod & Temporary Structures – 1977
Quarry Structure – 1977
Dry Stone passage – 1982
Hollow Spruce – 1988
Windblown – 1990
Being Here Exhibition – 2022
Artist’s Website: richardharrissculpture.co.uk
Page last updated August 2022
Grizedale Forest Sculpture An Unofficial Archive 