Richard Harris – Breasty Haw – 1990
Material: Wood
Trail: High Bowkerstead Trail
Theme: Nature
Form: Abstract
Maps Featured on: 1991 – 1993
Status: Removed, no remains
Quote from the Artist “As the forest trees grow they become increasingly interdependent, relying on each other for support and protection, when one begins to fall the others often go too.”
“The storms of February 1990 were devastating to the forest, felling swathes of trees as the wind followed the shape of the land. The windblown trees were rapidly being cleared away. I wanted to leave a trace of the storm a ‘weather vane’ – the trees take on a new life, with the energy running between the trunks and the ground.”
Using three windblown trees that had fallen over a dry stone wall. Wooden timber struts made out of Douglas fir connected the three trees together and made a shelter of sorts.
The two photographs above show it looking one way and the other when it was newly built. Harris said it didn’t last very long, largely because the foresters who removed the other windblown trees nearby did so and the nature of this change caused the work to fall apart. The photo below however seems to show the work with the windblown trees removed yet it still stands. Perhaps it was damaged, which would explain why it was last listed on the 1993 map and then subsequently fell apart not long after.
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Tripod & Temporary Structures – 1977
Quarry Structure – 1977
Cliff Structure – 1977
Dry Stone passage – 1982
Hollow Spruce – 1988
Being Here Exhibition – 2022
Artist’s Website: www.richardharrissculpture.co.uk/
Page last updated August 2022
Grizedale Forest Sculpture An Unofficial Archive 