Floor plan for virtual show

Below is a draft floor plan for the oudoor exhibition. The aim is to create a space that shows off some of the best contemporary sculpture and land art but also offers a relaxing and peaceful location for people to enjoy a day out. The space is 15,000 square metres in size and consists of several rows of hedges, paths going around the park and a river. There are fives pieces of work positioned around the garden. After giving it some thought I have decided to keep the design of the garden relatively straight forward. By keeping the layout simple the visitor feels more at home and settled and more importantly it would be a design fault if the garden itself acted as a distraction from the work on display.

A river runs throughout. Rowing boats are available if visitors choose to take a boat trip around the gardens and to take in what the exhibition has to offer. Boats can hold up to 6 people.

There is also a cafe on site which is great for snacks aswell as more substantial meals throughout the day. It also has a visitors information centre next to the entrance offering help and answers to any queries visitors may have.

Choosing the work for the gallery

I have decided to keep the number of pieces of work on display in the gallery down to five. Each piece needs to be by a well known artist and essentially must fit in to its surroundings.

1. Sitting Man 2, bronze, 1986, Elisabeth Frink

The first work I have chosen to use is Sitting Man 2 by Elisabeth Frink made out of bronze in 1986. The

man in the sculpture appears to confidently look out into the distance. If we place the work in the gallery he'll look confidently over the landscape of the gallery. Being one of the key outdoor artists of the 20th century it seems fitting to include her work!

2. Figure for Landscape, bronze, 1960, Barbara Hepworth.

 Hepworth believed that sculpture is made to be incorporated into a landscape. Her love for creating forms for outdoor display is captured in Figure for Landscape. A popular interpretation for this work is that it resembles a figure emerging from within a landscape. It is designed to be incorporated into a landscape and therefore it seems fitting to include it within the gardens.

3. Family Group, bronze , 1950, Henry Moore

Henry Moore's sculptures based around family are amongst the best known sculptures in the world. This piece in particular captures the love and unity of the family. It displays unconditional love for one another and is therefore an ideal sculpture to display in the gallery.

4. One of Two Oak Stacks, Andy Goldsworthy 2003

Goldsworthy creates land art in his practice. Making work to fit into the surroundings from materials he finds in the surroundings. Therefore due to the strong link to nature in this particular work I want to definitely include it!

5. , Sky Mirror, polished stainless steel, 2006, Anish Kapoor

This piece shall fit in well too! It reflects different aspects of the landscape it's situated in and abstracts the natural surroundings capturing a fascination from the viewer. Again the piece shall be a great addition to the gallery as it revolves around the concept of nature.

Artists known for their outdoor sculptures

Henry Moore-

I can't not include Henry Moore's work in my exhibition. His work is often very organic and abstract in nature. The standard procedure of displaying work in a specific gallery doesn't always apply with his practice and as a result his work can be found in rural and urban locations all around the world as public works of art.

A significant number of his sculptures are made out of bronze and stone and are commonly based on the human figure in some way. It is a common belief that the shape and structure of his figures in some way reflects the landscape of Castleford where he grew up as a boy.

Two Piece Reclining Figure 5, Bronze, 1963-64, Henry Moore.

It'll be great if I can include the work of Henry Moore into my virtual exhibition, I feel his work will gather a lot of interest from the visitors.

Babara Hepworth-

Born in 1903, Hepworth became one of the key sculptors in the 20th Century. Her work captures the essence of Modernism and is therefore not grounded in realism. Instead, in a similar fashion to Moore, her work is often extremely abstract and built for the purpose of being placed outside.

Family of Man, bronze, 1970, Barbara Hepworth.

Anish Kapoor-

Kapoor was born in Bomabay in 1954 and is best known for his large scale sculptures and installations. Kapoor tends to create large scale, often very vivid in colour, simplistic pieces. Shape and structure is often integral in his practice. A lot of his very earliest work was often made usingcoloured powder and wax. Later in his career he began using harder materials such as stone to make sculptures. Most recently he has been using stainless steel to create very large scale circular mirrors which reflect the sky and surroundings. Although he has work in galleries all over the world he also publically exhibits a significant amount of his work around the world.

Yellow, fibre glass and pigment, 1999, Anish Kapoor.

Andy Goldsworthy-

Brought up in Yorkshire Goldsworthy is best known for his land art and sculptures that are displayed in public spaces around the world. The Lake District and Yorkshire Dales are only two of the locations that play host to his work. He creates his work using materials he finds in the open air surroundings and tends to use these materials in the state he finds them. Due to the extremely organic nature of the materials he uses his work tends to be short living. Goldsworthy therefore normally records his work through photography.



Three Cones, Sandstone, 1991, Andy Goldsworthy.



Thought I just had regarding location for a possible exhibition

Just suddenly had a late night flash of inspiration and decided I wanted my space to resemble a large garden. I live in a small village called Wooburn Common and I am surrounded by countryside, it would be great if I could weave my home village into this project in some way..

hmmm.. I could use Wooburn in the name of the gallery. There is a park down the road called Wooburn Manor Park. Not only is it a beautiful park but it's a place I spent countless hours in as a lad.

Maybe instead of Wooburn Manor Park we go for Wooburn Manor Gardens?

I think that sounds better to be honest.

Below are a few pictures I have dug out of the local surrounding of Wooburn

Bench in the park. Seats would be a welcomed accessory to the garden gallery.

Hedges and trees surrounding the park.

The idea is for the gallery to offer a comfortable location for people to relax in addition to enjoying a day full of exciting art.

Parking would be available within a five minute walk of the gallery.
Obviously a normal garden doesn't have Andy Goldsworthy sculptures in it, but there you go. I do however want the art to fit in with it's surroundings as best it can.

Understanding what is meant by land art

Land art is effectively a type of art made using the natural landscape and totally organic materials. It was founded in the USA in the 1960s and is considered as a reaction against art becomming overly commercial and artificial. One of the major principles of this movement is for art to be accessible for everyone from any background and not just a select few.

It normally takes two forms. The first kind of land art is where artists work into the landscape and actually sculpt it in some way. The second common form of land art is where artists use natural materials such as sticks and flowers to build up a piece of work. The work is then usually allowed to change under natural conditions. In my view it seems one of the most appealing aspects of land art to modern artists in its use of natural materials and unharmful processes.

One of the widest recognised pieces of land art is called the Spiral Jetty, created by Robert Smithson in 1970. It was built totally out of mud, salt, rocks and water found around the shore of the Great Salt Lake. The 1,500 feet of spiral is only visible when the water drops below a certain depth. It can be seen below.

Spiral Jetty, 1970, Robert Smithson.

Richard Shilling is another contemporary artist who creates land art out of natural materials. He often bases his work on the themes of wildlife and the constantly changing seasons. Due to his work not holding up under certain natural conditions he uses photography to capture his practice. Examples of his work shown under natural light can be seen below.



Famous work publically displayed outside

Scattered around the country are publically displayed sculptures. These age dramatically from Stone Henge to much more modern sculptural forms.

The Angel of the North by Antony Gormley was made in 1998. These sculptures often represent or pay some form of tribute to an aspect of their location. For example Gormley's Angel of the North is a tribute to the industrial heritage of the North East and is fittingly made out of steel. The majority of Gormleys' work is centered around the body. He uses the body as less of an object and more of a place and one of the key ideas of his work is to explore the relationship between yourself and other people and concepts. The relation between the body and the space surrounding it is a key focus in his work. By locating the majority of his work outside he opens up oppurtunity for the public to involve the work in their everyday lives.

The Angel of the North, Steel, 1998, Antony Gormley.

Andy Goldsworthy similarly chooses to display his work in the open air. Not only this but he tends to work closely alongside nature and produces a lot of land art. His sculptural work is regularly made to relate to it's location in some way and is built with materials he has found in the local area such as sticks, brightly coloured flowers, ice and stones. His work can be found in both rural and urban regions all over the world from more local places such as the Yorkshire Dales to the opposite side of the world in the Australian outback. Due to the location and materiality of his work few last for a long time. He therefore captures his practice through photography. The sculptures he makes in stone have a much longer life.

Icicle Star, joined with saliva, Andy Goldsworthy.

Outdoor displays of art

Many galleries have additional outdoor displays of art attached to them but there are a few large scale exhibitions scattered around the country that have been purposely built outside. Amongst the biggest is the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which I personally visited a few years ago. This is a large scale open air gallery displaying a widely ranging selection of work from artists based all around the world but giving UK sculpture slightly more of a focus. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3pqHhCil6c&feature=player_detailpage

The park offers a platform for modern sculpture Several British artists have had solo exhibitions in the park. The 500 acres of land offers a landscape for work of well known artists Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth can be found in the park alongside the sculptures of Andy Goldsworthy and Antony Gormley. The work of Rodin is the oldest on show in the park, the main strength of his work predominatly lies in the natural beauty and quality of the stone he uses. Natural forms and organic shapes play a large part in the attraction of the sculptures throughout

the park. A few examples can be seen below.

Family of Man, bronze, 1970, Barbara Hepworth.

Sitting Man 2, Bronze, 1986, Elisabeth Frink.

Work displayed outside

Artists often choose to display their art outside. Through this the work is often very publically accessible and often larger scale as space tends to be less limited.

Initial thoughts for my virtual exhibition

As part of the Professional Practice module on my Fine Art course we need to create a virtual exhibition.  Before I can begin the curation process I shall need to think through a theme or idea for the exhibition and then go on to analyse relevant works and practices to fit within it. I'll ultimately construct a maquette of the show out of card.  This virtual model needs to be a display comprising of established pieces of art either traditional or contemporary that fit in with the theme. 

My initial thought is for my exhibition to focus on the subject of nature and the outdoor world. I would like to display the art outside. I have chosen to call my exhibition 'Friend Of Nature'. Through the curation process appropriate work that fits in and compliments it's surroundings need to be selected.

As a starting point I shall look into various scultural forms and pieces of land art aswell as two dimensional works that are displayed outdoors and from this proceed to develop a virtual exhibition. Examples of work displayed outside can be seen below.

Two Piece Reclining Figure No.5, Bronze, 1963-64, Henry Moore.

Stone towers made on a beach in Newfoundland, Canada.