This larger gallery space opened around 2012 and is located just next to the reception area. It features a rotation of short term exhibitions related to sculpture at Grizedale or a similar ethos of nature and creativity.
This page is not a complete list of everything that has been displayed. Instead I’ve focused on all sculpture exhibitions and specific photography exhibitions that directly relate to Grizedale.
Due to the constantly changing nature of the gallery space newest exhibitions are listed at the top of the page. Please click on the photographs to view the full image.
www.grizedalesculpture.org/archive
Sally Matthews Boar 2022
When visiting Richard Harris’ exhibition in August 2022 I noticed a new boar in the visitor centre by Sally Matthews. The original gallery boar is still in the Yan building near the Ridding Wood Trail. This is a permanent sculpture in the visitor centre gallery regardless of changing exhibitions.
Richard Harris
Being Here
3rd June to 5th December 2022
Exhibition poster from Grizedale Sculpture Instagram
“Richard Harris was the first sculptor to work in Grizedale Forest 1977-78. He and David Nash 1978 established the practice and the ethos of the remarkable residency programme with its rich context of rural community, nature, forestry, art and visitors.”
“Richard has returned many times to Grizedale Forest, (which) remains central to his sculptural practice.”
“Being Here may be seen as a meeting place of his ideas and work. Driven by the reality of place – Harris’ sculptures connect people to their ground so enabling their response to it. He is concerned with underlying structures. How we inhabit & respond to the connections between, wood, stone, air, earth, water, concrete, steel. Although his sculptures are not figurative they can trigger a recognition. The resulting… immersive & directional (sculptures, create) lyrical places for people to move through, over, or to pause to experience in their own way.”
Link to Feature of this exhibition: corridor8.co.uk/article/richard-harris-being-here/
Link to Video for the exhibition: culturecolony.com/en/media/video/richard-harris-being-here
Grizedale Sketches and early work Photographs
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Grizedale Trees sketch book drawings 1977 (conte & charcoal on paper)
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Top: Millwood Trees Grizedale drawn from the Kennels 1978 (charcoal on paper)
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Bottom: Grizedale Trees, next to Cliff Structure site 1977 (charcoal on paper)
- Top: Tripod (detail) 1978 (Giclee Print)
Grizedale Sculptures
- Cliff Structure & Quarry Structure
- Dry Stone PassageAbove
- Hollow Spruce
- Windblown
sculptures & Maquettes
Birch Dome (Birch Wood & Coach Screws)
“In the past, when road transport was more difficult, logs would have been floated down rivers, including the Wye. ‘Birch’ forms a ‘shelter’ from a long flexible ‘string’ of wood, that could be floated down the river, before being coiled up to form a structure on the riverbank. ‘Birch’ is made up with the same (flexible) joint used in ‘A River & a Tree’ and originally in ‘Passing through No Man’s Land’ in Fukuoka, Japan.”
- 2000 Year Old Lime Model – Westonbirt Arboretum 2013 (Lime Sticks & Wire)
- Working Model Jurassic Stones – 2010 (Sand, slate, galvanised wire)
Sketches
- Drawing for Birrigai 1980
- Drawing for Birrigai 1980
- Drawing for Bottle Bank 1982
- Drawing for Meeting Place 2004
- Drawing for St.Non’s Stones 2022
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Tripod & Temporary Structures – 1977
Cliff Structure – 1977
Quarry Structure – 1977
Dry Stone passage – 1982
Hollow Spruce – 1988
Windblown – 1990
David Nash
Return to the Forest
17th June to 12th December 2021
“In the 1970s, the Arts Council funded artist residencies to support interaction between artists and the public… Grizedale already had the Theatre in the Forest created by Head Forester Bill Grant, and was sympathetic to hosting an artist residency.
Foreground sculptures, Left: Rough Ball 1984 Right: Seed 2001
In 1977 a selection process was established, and a shortlist of artists were interviewed. Richard Harris and David Nash were selected as the first residency artists. Harris started the programme in the summer of 1977 while Nash preferred to wait until the following year to be able to experience the forest emerging from winter into spring.” – Text from exhibition
Sketches by Nash of Grizedale:
Left: Big & Little Trees 1979 Right: Branch Piles 1978
“I started in February to be there (when the) days progressively becoming longer and warmer. The trees came into leaf, first the larch, then the willows and the hazels and oaks last. I was gently drawn into the metabolism, pace and energy of the forest”
Left: Whirling Willow March 1979 Right: Grizedale 1979
“We went as a young family; my partner, artist Claire Langdown and our two children. The caravan that was available for the resident artist was inadequate so we opted for the only alternative, a disused house that had been stripped for renovation… we camped on the ground floor. Upstairs Claire had a room for carving where ‘Crackaway Jack’ was made from two beech panels from the forest sawmill (now the bike hire shop) and I had a room for drawing and making small sculptures.”
Above the studio in the house where David and his family stayed while at Grizedale. Photos above and below taken by Nash.
Crackaway Jack 1978 by Claire Langdown
“Crackaway Jack is one of Claire’s works from our time at Grizedale. Referencing pop art, it uses imagery from our children’s comics in the classical medium of relief carving.”
David Nash’s three principles as a basis for the work during the residency:
- The sculpture needs to work with the environment using the materials and conditions the forest naturally has to offer.
- The artist needs to acknowledge the relationship of the forest and those who work in it; using their materials, tools and calling on their experience of planting, growing, tending and harvesting trees.
- The placing of sculpture should activate otherwise neutral spaces and not occupy areas that already have a positive sense of place.
“I needed to show from day one that I was also a worker using the same equipment as the foresters. I parked my car where the workers congregated in the morning and went to work when they did. They could hear my saw still going when they ended their day. One of the forest workers, Bob Fletcher, an artist in his own right, was very helpful both in heaving wood and for the artist residency to be locally accepted. Claire also made a relief carving of a leaping deer to hang undercover in the workforce’s courtyard as a gesture towards the forest community.”
Above: Running Table 1982 Background: Oak Box 1982
Running Table was the first official sculpture in Grizedale. Sited at Farra Grain it lasted until 1999. The table above, made 4 years later looks as good as new. Below are sketches of Nash’s subsequent sculptures and other work in Grizedale:
Top Left: Sweeping Larch enclosure with Ring Fence 1980
Top Right: Wooden Waterway – ash, oak, sycamore, birch and water
Bottom Left: Willow Ladder 1978 Bottom Right: Grizedale Stove 1981
“For several years I returned to Grizedale to nurture the grafting of the ‘Willow Ladder’ and remake the ‘Running Table’ that had been vandalised. The residency programme was not originally conceived to create a sculpture trail but it grew out of the succession of artists making site specific works to be experienced in the context of the forest. Being made of organic material these sculptures had a limited life and when they became unviable needed to be removed to make way for others.”
Subsequent sculptures:
Top left: Stick Chair 2008 Top Right: Ladder 1980
Bottom Left: Chestnut Rollmop 1976 Bottom Right: Apple Jacob 1988
Behind: Three Eucalyptus Balls 2011
“New ideas emerged which I was able to try out in the forest and take forward in years to come. The concept of making a group of sculptures from a single tree where it had fallen came from the residency. I felt I was mining a seam of material as I worked along the trunk and called these projects ‘Wood Quarry’. The first was… near my studio in North Wales in the autumn of 1978. The ‘Wooden Boulder’ was from that tree which was a direct follow on from ‘Wooden Waterway’.”
Left: Wood Quarry, Oak, Maentwrog 2009
Middle: Wooden Boulder, Oak, Maentwrog 1984
Right: Wooden Boulder 2005
“The Grizedale Forest Residency was a key moment for me finding my path as an artist. Three months in the forest that I continue to greatly value and thank all those who made it possible.” – All quotes above by David Nash
Interview
Regarding this exhibition David Nash was interviewed by Anthony Cosgrove from The Northern Art Podcast. The interview covers Nash’s career from beginning to his Grizedale Residency, and is “the most comprehensive David Nash interview anywhere”.
A shorter version of the interview with just the Grizedale related parts can be heard here:
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Running Table – 1978
Horned Tripod – 1978
Willow Ladders – 1978
Wooden Waterway – 1978
Sweeping Larch Enclosure – 1978
Fork Ladders – 1978
A Meeting of Ways – 1981
Sense of Here
The feeling and knowing of place
Somewhere Nowhere – 6th October to 13th December 2020
“Sense of Here uses walking, art and research in an exploration of the natural environment and our relationship with places we treasure. Rob & Harriet Fraser imagine the Lake District National Park as a clock face; within this framework they navigate time, place and environmental issues. They combine their experience of being out in remote places in all seasons, with multiple points of view that converge on one fundamental issue: the need for an improving environment that supports healthy ecosystems as well as thriving human cultures.” – Quote from exhibition
“Where is your ‘here’? Where does this overlap with another ‘here’? What determines perceptions of place and our individual and collective actions as we care for the places – and the planet – we love? This poetic and thought-provoking exhibition born from walking, slow time outdoors and in-depth enquiries into different elements of landscape offers an invitation to see a familiar place from a new perspective, and to ask: What next?
The work on show at Grizedale will distill a year of walking, camping and interviews with experts in many different fields of knowledge and experience. Through photography, poetry and installations, and creative mapping, it brings together a variety of landscapes and multiple viewpoints, and embraces the challenge of making meaningful change. Considering the environmental pressures of a changing climate and declining biodiversity how do we go forwards from here, working together?
In addition to their own process of learning, the Frasers will bring together contributions from more than 150 people in reflection on the value of the natural world and the pressure to protect what we have, before it is too late.” – Grizedale Sculpture Official Website
The gallery was closed from November 5th to December 3rd 2020 due to a month long lockdown in England.
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Tree Pole – 2018
Treefold:Centre – 2017
The Long View Exhibition – 2017
BENGAL: The Four Elements
Gerry Judah – 22nd July to 15th September 2020
“This solo exhibition marks a unique collaboration between Grizedale Forest and internationally acclaimed artist Gerry Judah, bringing together a striking body of work built over nearly a decade. Visually forceful and sensitively crafted… drawing on essential natural elements in his exquisitely detailed sculptures, Judah constructs the intangible: clouds shift, waves splash and smoke rises. Works on display include drawings and sculptures dating from 2013- 2020.” – Grizedale Sculpture Official Website
The first exhibition post Covid-19. I visited the day it opened and at the time it was limited to 6 people in the gallery at a time.
The Hunted
Sally Matthews – 23rd May to 29th September 2019
“I make and draw animals as I see them – no myth, no fairytale – animals that share the earth.” – Quote from the Artist
Artist Sally Matthews returns to Grizedale with The Hunted exhibition to remind people that this is not just our land – that we share it with wild and independent animals.
The atmosphere and reality of the forest influences the sculptural form and the animal’s sense of place within the landscape. Rooted to the earth by the very materials that she uses, forest floor debris, mud, sticks, brash, combine to flesh out the skeletal frame.
Influenced by childhood experiences on the family farm, Sally grew up with an understanding and knowledge of animals which has inspired and informed her practice. In 1987 Sally’s first work a Grizedale, Wild Boar Clearing, was created on the east side of the forest at Bogle Crag, Grizedale is derived from the Norse meaning valley of the pigs.
Grizedale still holds the precious and only remaining herd of indigenous red deer in England with records going back 600 years. Deer have traditionally been valued and conserved as food and ‘sport’. Documents state the last wolf hunt took place not far from Grizedale at Cartmel. Wolves have been seen as a threat to humans and their livestock for centuries and so demonised and persecuted.
Wolves and Deer have always been intertwined – predator and prey. Wolves have been seen as a threat to humans and their livestock for centuries and so demonised and persecuted. Are wolves the more frightening or is our ruthless persecution of them and our inability and unwillingness to live alongside them what we should be more frightened of?
“We are now the wolf – keeping the deer population at a healthy level within the Forest.
We have placed ourselves as predator – nothing to be frightened of but ourselves.” – Quote from the Artist
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Wild Boar Clearing – 1988
Gallery Boars – 1988
A Cry In The Wilderness – 1990
Wolves – 1993
Wolves – 2021
Inspired by Nature
Society of Sculptors – 24th May to 23rd September 2018
Since 1968 artists have been drawn to Grizedale Forest to create art inspired by this special place. Internationally renowned for its forest sculpture collection, Grizedale now also hosts a rolling programme of contemporary exhibitions which relate in various ways to the forest context.
The Inspired by Nature exhibition is a new collaboration between the Forestry Commission and the Royal Society of Sculptors. The exhibition includes work from nine artists using a range of media – from pine needles to marble, bronze, shuttle cocks and wood.
This is a truly diverse show which reflects the range of inspiration the natural worlds provides for artists. Exhibiting artists include Diane Maclean, Neil Ferber, Gerry Judah, Julian Wild, Anna Gillespie, Sadie Brockbank, Linda Johns, Jane Malmros and Jeremy Turner.
Man Bends Tree
Charlie Whinney – 9th January to 13th May 2018
Charlie Whinney studied Architecture at Kingston University, Furniture Design at Rycotewood, and 3D Design for Sustainability at Falmouth College of Arts. In 2008 Charlie Whinney Studio was formed near Oxford, moving to the Lake District in 2010. Selected projects include installations and commissions in Japan, China, Singapore, Georgia, France, Ireland, USA and UK.
Charlie’s practice over the last ten years has grown from architect – designer to pure sculptural practice and marks his continued passion for investigating man’s relationship with nature through his work.
The central piece denotes a celebration of and a concern over man’s impact on the natural world and approach to natural resources. This manufactured forest landscape is one in which nothing is real, natural in one sense that it is formed of many different pieces of wood but constructed with branches and steam bent wood sharing the same space in an almost dream like landscape. The installation serves to highlight how natural resources, specifically forests, service the desires of mankind.
Alongside the installation sit a series of shelves, on these are 3 dimensional sketches, the artist’s thought processes as he pushes wood to the limit using traditional processes of steam bending wood to create contemporary sculpture.
Charlie’s 2017 piece, Mountains We Made, will also be celebrated as the latest addition to Grizedale’s world famous, forest sculpture collection. This piece made of steam bent wood grown in Grizedale, was a co-commission by the Forestry Commission, Lakes Culture and Lakes Alive as a response to the announcement of the UNESCO World Heritage Status. The piece is currently installed in the walled garden adjacent to the play area.
Artist’s other work in Grizedale:
Mountains we Made – 2018
Sharing – 2017
Cubby’s Tarn
Joseph Wright – 18th October to 31st December 2017
“In this series of photography Joseph features images created at a man-made Lakeland tarn set within a wildlife glade in the majestic Grizedale Forest. Part biographical in nature, Joseph takes inspiration for this series from the working life of the late John J. Cubby MBE, former Forestry Commission Chief Wildlife Ranger and family friend.
Over a number of years Joseph developed an intimate study of the tarn and surrounding woodland through the repeated visits and time he spent there. In this way he has been able to create a quiet expressive body of work that explores the genius loci ‘spirit of place’” – Quote from Joseph Wright’s website (link below)
www.josephwright.co.uk/cubbys-tarn-exhibition-grizedale
The Long View
Rob & Harriet Fraser – 21st June to 31st August 2017
This exhibition featured photographs of remarkable trees around Cumbria. The Treefold they created in Grizedale is one of many artworks created as part of this wider project.
“The exhibition celebrates the beauty and value of trees and the experience of walking through the Lake District, and the benefits of pausing. These trees are like beacons in a wider landscape, and representatives of trees further afield. Through them, the exhibition explores the way trees are valued across the country, what trees do for us, and the special relationship that people have with trees.
The exhibition features photographic images, poetry, prose, word art and 3D work to introduce each of the seven trees as well as the environments around them: over 30 photographic images comprising hand-printed black and white images… and 20 written pieces of poetry, word art and prose; as well as seven living trees.
Through the exhibition, we want to draw visitors into ‘tree time’ and provoke thought and discussion about the way we value our landscapes and relate to the natural world. We also reflect on the value of slowing down and pausing, outside, and what is being lost – or should be carefully guarded – as our culture and way of life become increasingly determined by technology. And, in the spirit of The Long View, the exhibition presents opportunities for visitors to become involved by sharing their own views.” – From Artist’s website
Artist’s other work in Grizedale:
Treefold:Centre – 2017
Tree Charter Pole – 2018
Sense of Here Exhibition – 2020 see above
Grizedale Forest Sculpture An Unofficial Archive 