Sunday 8 May 2016

Stanley Spencer: Visionary Painter of the Natural World

Stanley Spencer was a rather good landscape artist.



I must get to the Stanley Spencer Gallery at Cookham. Here's the description of the current exhibition

Stanley Spencer: Visionary Painter of the Natural World
24th March to 31st October 2016
Glorious depictions of the natural world, exploring Spencer's consummate skill in a series of exquisitely executed flower paintings, garden vistas and landscapes. Figurative and spiritual scenes amongst these wonderful paintings movingly remind us of the visionary element pervading all of Spencer's work.

Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham

Monday 2 May 2016

Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature

Tomorrow the BBC will broadcast a programme about Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature on BBC4 at 9pm.

It's about artists interact with the landscape to create and make artworks.
Dr James Fox takes a journey through six different landscapes across Britain, meeting artists whose work explores our relationship to the natural world.

From Andy Goldsworthy's beautiful stone sculptures to James Turrell's extraordinary sky spaces, this is a film about art made out of nature itself.

Featuring spectacular images of landscape and art, James travels from the furthest reaches of the Scottish coast and the farmlands of Cumbria to woods of north Wales.

In each location he marvels at how artists' interactions with the landscape have created a very different kind of modern art - and make us look again at the world around us.
There are two clips which you can view to see if this is the type of art which appeals to you. It certainly appeals to me!

They are James Turrell's Skyspace at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Excerpt - Sky Space by James Turrell at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
and David Nash's Ash Dome - which exists at a secret location! This 'living sculpture' of a perfect circle and dome made from 22 ash trees was planted as saplings in 1977. Over the last 40 years it has matured to create a dome centred on an otherwise empty plot in woodland "somewhere" in Snowdonia in North Wales. (David Nash lives in Blaenau Ffestiniog)

Cornell University have come up with instructions for how you can sculpt trees to make your own living dome

This is a link to an interview Real Living Art: A Conversation with David Nash by John Grande

Where can I see art in the countryside?


In addition, an interactive map has been created showing you places where you can see art.