When all the leaves are troublesome gold – a line from a poem written by my son when he was a scarily precocious 3 year old. It always springs to mind (or should that be ‘autumns’ to mind?) at this time of year.
It’s nice to kick back and blog for a bit now the days are drawing in – there is definately a chill in the air. Here at the Art Gallery we have been passing around a cold of the worst kind, such that we may have to start painting crosses on the office doors. Thankfully I was able to escape from the heady atmosphere of Vicks Vapourub last week when I attended the engage conference in Bradford. It was particularly welcome as it included a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on a day bright with sunshine. The Andy Goldworthy installations are a must see. You have not seen a wood pile until you have seen one of Mr. Goldsworthy’s.
As a student I wrote a thesis on the romanticisim of nature in industrial societies and how this is reflected in the Green Man myth. I wrote to several artists, asking for their feelings towards the Green Man – including Andy Goldsworthy – he was very generous in his reply, too busy to write to me, he recorded his answer on an audio tape, which he requested I return to him, as on the B-side were noises made by his baby son. His wife had recorded it for him whilst he was on a residency in Japan. It is something of a regret that I didn’t have the where-with-all to make a copy of the tape before sending it back – baby noises and all. I still have the transcript (of Andy’s comments – not his son’s) though, painstakingly tapped out on my Remington portable – now I really am showing my age!