Grizedale Arts

Chapter 2: The Dark Ages

Overview

Bill Grant started and oversaw the sculpture trail between 1977 and 1997. In the late 90s he stepped down as Director of the Grizedale Society which he had formed in 1969, with Adam Sutherland being appointed in his place. This is the point when the sculpture trail changed dramatically.

“1999, the year in which a new director coincided with an influx of resident artists working with… an urban sensibility. The new director (me) and the artists were keen to distance themselves from the sculptural/land art heritage.” – Adam Sutherland ‘Grizedale Arts. Adding Complexity to Confusion’ Book

After becoming Director of The Grizedale Society, Sutherland subsequently disbanded the society and formed a new arts initiative called Grizedale Arts, he became the Director of this in 2000. “With the appointment of Adam Sutherland in 2000, Grizedale Arts became more experimental organisation.” –  Grizedale Arts website

Destroying a legacy:

Sutherland’s first few decisions were to completely eradicate the legacy Bill Grant had built up. He managed this in the space of 3 years. Initially “We renamed all the existing Grizedale facilities from their traditional country-con titles: the ‘Gallery in the Forest’ became the ‘Gallery in the Car Park’: the ‘Theatre in the Forest’ became the ‘Theatre in the Visitor Centre‘” – AS, Grizedale Arts Book

Subsequently “The Grizedale Society was dissolved and the Theatre (and Gallery in the forest) closed – provoking some hostility towards the new organisation, Grizedale Arts, which emerged in its place. With the backing of the board of trustees activities were re‐focussed on visual art and the organisation sought to distance itself from the land art heritage. – University of Central Lancaster Study into New Model Visual Arts

“370,000 people a year come to Grizedale Forest, more than a third of them just to look at the artworks placed among the trees. They’ve been putting sculptures outdoors since the mid 1970s, sculptures made out of traditional materials that blend in with the surroundings. But no more; this year Adam Sutherland has decided to ban the use of wood and stone, plumping for plastic, metal and sound instead.” – Marcus Coles BBC Radio 4, 1999

“To be honest I don’t like wood” (laughs) – AS BBC Radio 4, 1999

It only took one year for Grizedale Arts to give up on the sculpture trail, by 2000 “We moved away from the idea of placing art in the forest.”– AS, Grizedale Arts Book

“With a new permanent director’s arrival… there was a radical shift, there was no longer the imperative to work either with wood or stone, or to create sited work for the forest. It marked the beginning of shorter residencies with many more artists working simultaneously – previously there were usually a maximum of three artists in residence. These Grizedale Arts projects were often one-off sited short-lived events or festivals. This period also marked a change in how and where the work was produced – virtually no work is actually made in the forest any more.” –  Quote from Edwina Fitzpatrick 2014

Public Response:

The change in material was dramatic, but more importantly it removed a connection between artist, artwork and forest. Visitors, like myself found these new artworks inaccessible despite Sutherland saying. “I hope that in this setting the works will be a it more approachable than they would be in a formal gallery.” I no longer enjoyed coming to Grizedale at this time. All I saw where the removal of sculptures I loved, to be replaced with ones I wouldn’t even call art. (Eg. Deer Hunter, was removed, replaced with a common garden greenhouse).

In discussing these radical new ‘artworks’ Sutherland explains: “I never sit here and ask ‘is it art?’ I’ve no idea. You could call it avant garde. I am certainly looking for artists whose work has a broad relevance. I can only hope that it will engage – or I could say ‘entertain’ – people. All I hope is that people look at the things and understand them and get something from that.” Sutherland’s ‘hopes’ did not come true for me or anyone I have ever spoken to about the Grizedale Arts Years.

“The local press responded that the society would win no friends by defacing the forest in the name of modern art.” – University of Central Lancaster Study into New Model Visual Arts. This letter published in the Westmorland Gazette in 2003 by Richard Piece perfectly encapsulates my feelings and those of many other visitors to the forest during this period.

Sutherland experienced the negative responses to the changes first hand “The backlash… was striking. Threats and abuse, vandalism of my car and house and a confetti of abusive letters from the four corners of little Britain.” – AS, Grizedale Arts Book

Trying to escape:

Adam Sutherland was the director at this point of both Grizedale Arts and The Forestry Commission. 2001 “This was the year I first suggested to the Grizedale board and the Forestry Commission that our separate organisations ‘uncouple’ and go our own ways, the growing malevolence of the Forestry making cooperation increasingly difficult. My proposal was rejected and we continued to struggle on under the weight of rural bitterness, conservatism and unbridled avarice.”… “Our second attempt to divorce ourselves from our abusive partner (The Forestry Commission) failed.” in 2002. – AS, Grizedale Arts Book

I can only assume this reluctance to separate was because there was not enough money to run both Grizedale Arts and also recreate something akin to Grizedale Society again, which is what Sutherland was appointed to do in the first place.

What little remained:

Having alienated the visitors that loved Grizedale for the sculptures (like myself) this was clearly not sustainable. The Forestry Commission took over the Sculpture Trail again in 2004 with Graeme Prest as a Curator. In Edwina Fitzpatrick’s PHD interviews it was mentioned that Graeme Prest pushed Adam “to commission more physical sculpture” this slowly started happening after this point.

Grizedale Arts split off to become a separate art initiative sited at Lawsons Park. This should have been what happened originally. Instead these 5 years completely destroyed the arts trail. Removing the artist residencies and not creating any new artwork, even now, twenty years later there is a noticeable gap in the artwork in the trail.

Unfortunately when Grizedale Arts went, they took all of the assets from the Society, including artworks by the most famous artists, ie. Goldsworthy, who, Sutherland lambasted when he first arrived. Most depressingly they also took all the past history and claimed it for themselves. If you read on Tate (or similar) websites it will say ‘Grizedale Arts formerly Grizedale Society’. It is true the Society was merged and became Grizedale Arts, but it is not true that anyone involved in the latter had anything to do with the sculpture trail pre 1999. Instead it solely took part in its almost complete destruction.

All of the aspects that made Grizedale pre 1999, so special were removed during the Grizedale Arts years, and although the forest is now slowly finding its feet again, it isn’t the same as it was and never will be as groundbreaking, and influential as the Bill Grant/Grizedale Society Years.

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