Richard Harris is an artist who prides himself on sculpting with materials gathered locally. This means his pieces often evolve out of the site itself, inspired by the very location they are crafted in. So when he was approached by Bill Grant to kick-start a unique sculpture project at Grizedale, he came up with such a piece after spending some time making temporary works to get his eye in, as it were. 'Cliff Structure' was the first sculpture at Grizedale, jutting out of a rock face on the Millwood Trail.

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In 'A Sense Of Place', Harris described at length his ground-breaking tenure in Grizedale Forest:

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"The Grizedale residency came, for me, at a crucial time. Having worked on my own for a year after finishing college, I wanted and needed the challenge of working on my sculpture in a situation that was no longer isolated and academic. The forest gave me an ideal working environment, particularly relevant both to my methods and ideas.

On arriving at Grizedale my first concern was to explore the forest, while I also made a quick series of temporary structures, to help me get a feel for the place. Then I concentrated on specific sites, making structures that were more substantial and able to hold their own, both physically and visually."

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And hold their own they did - remarkably, the two sculptures from Richard Harris' initial residency are still there. Okay, so they may have been repaired a couple of times, but still. I doubt anything I could make would last forty minutes, so forty years is very impressive. Harris did not get off to the ideal start, however, as Bill Grant explained:

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"The first residency was awarded to Richard Harris. This was for him a tremendous task, because depending on what he created lay the success of the whole venture. Richard spent nearly four months coping with the weather, the natural antipathy of the local residents and above all, trying to weld his sculptural disciplines into this tremendously new situation. After four months he had produced absolutely nothing, and he had to take a short break away from it before approaching the Residency afresh."

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Also by this artist:

Quarry Structure 1977

Dry Stone Passage 1982

Hollow Spruce 1988

Windblown 1991