Living Wood

Antony Holloway – 1991 – Farra Grain

Photograph taken 2003

Material: Wood

Trail: Silurian Way

Theme: Nature

Form: Figurative – Animals and Plants

Maps Featured on: 1991 – 2020

Status: Still in situ, worn April 2023

Quote from the Artist: “In the living wood trees and plants burst out of the ground to host a millennia of tiny creatures. All will eventually return to and nourish the earth, from which more life will emerge…“It is for this reason that the arch is almost circular, appearing to continue through the ground to link the two sides… Here everything is alive, from the leaves on the trees to the soil underfoot.”

“The sculpture is in the form of a vine that tells this story. It grows from the ground, climbs up and over a path, then falls, returning to the earth.”

“One side pushes out with new, fresh leaves and young buds. As the arch continues around, the buds come into flower, bloom, die and decompose. At different stages various creatures are present… a bee pollenating the blooming flower… a woodlouse feeding on the dead petals.”

Above: maquette of the work

“It was intentional that the sculpture would form an archway, a familiar, functional object that would invite people to become physically involved… The craft skills and strong imagery are also intended to capture and audience, who will hopefully remain long enough to capture the information before them.” 

Above, the original site proposal showing the arch almost exactly where it was sited in the end. Positioned over the Silurian Way, you have to walk through the sculpture to continue on the path.

Below a video showing the creation of the sculpture using photographs from the time:

“The sequence of images telling the complete story of the arch is quite a unique thing to have.  I was obviously so excited about being at Grizedale the first time that I documented my every move.

Although I was making an object using craft skills and evoking thoughts of fairy tales, making something that could have been left behind by an old mysterious woodcarver secretly living deep in the forest, I was actually documenting the entire event as if it was a performance piece. ‘Artist struggling against heavy logs and dreadful weather, a twelve week performance’ is perhaps an alternative title… The self documentation of someone obsessively toiling away in the rain and mud on a personal quest really says something about the project.”

Maquette photograph, sketches and video photographs courtesy of Antony Holloway

Photographs taken 2012

There are thirteen insects & invertebrates on the arch in total, listed here:

1. Grasshopper  2. Fly  3.Caterpillar  4. Moth  5.Beetle  6.Woodlouse  7.Larger Beetle

8. Centipede  9. Larger Fly  10. Snail  11.Shield Bug  12. Ladybird  13. Ant

Photographs Taken June 2019

A note from Bill Grant, Holloway found this note stuck to the sculpture on day during construction. It says “Sorry I missed you “on site”. It looks great and will be ace when finished.”

Sculpture in other Artworks

Panayiotis Kalorkoti a resident painter in Grizedale during the late eighties and nineties often used Living Wood in his paintings. Below is a painting featuring a lot of the insects from this sculpture as well as the flower in various stages of life.

Grizedale 11 – 1992

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Artist’s other work in Grizedale –

The Turning Point, Slate Seat, Circle of Logs – 1990s

Spiral Growth – 1993

Water Wheel – 1993

Addison Seat – 1994

Brantwood Seat – 1995

Wheel of Seasons – 1996

Page last updated April 2023