Simon Lee – Blind Lane Wood – 1991
Photo by Bill Grant
Material: Wood
Trail: High Bowkerstead Trail
Theme: Modern Life
Form: Realism
Maps Featured on: 1991 – 1998
Status: Decommissioned, remains visible Aug 2018
Quote from the Artist: “Solid oak juxtaposes two materials – the processed end product of the forest with living trees. Part of Grizedale’s beauty is created by the tension of two circumstances, the complex rhythm of the forest, and our equally complex manipulation of them. The trees are young and will continue to grow… The chairs will also fall piece by piece to the ground, changing the patterns imposed upon them and becoming once again part of the undergrowth that regenerates the forest.”
Photograph taken by Robzet approximately 1996
This sculpture consisted of a multitude of wooden chair frames attached to trees just above Blind Lane Car Park. Trees become wood, wood becomes chairs and here, chairs rot and turn into nutrients for more trees to grow. It covered a large area, at least twelve trees had numerous chairs cascading down them.
It slowly fell apart, last being listed on a map in 1998. Two decades later you can just about make out a chair backrest still clinging on amongst other bits and pieces. There are no full chairs anymore but the trees continue to grow.
Photographs taken July 2018
Photograph by Reece Ingram 1997
The waymarker for this piece was a Dung beetle. You can see the sculpture in the background. It was created and sited in 1997, no long before Solid Oak was removed from maps.
Page last updated Jan 2021
Grizedale Forest Sculpture An Unofficial Archive 