Plumbstone
Charles Poulsen 1997
Photographs by Charles Poulsen
'Plumbstone' must be one of the shortest-lived pieces to have graced Grizedale. Positioned in the beck which runs through the visitor centre area (and indeed continues all the way down the forest to Force Falls at the bottom), it was another of Charles Poulsen's lead-based works, this time a large stone wrapped in the metal. Perhaps worried that putting lead in the water would damage the sculpture project's ever-fragile relationship with the good folk of Satterthwaite, Bill Grant ordered that the work be pulled out of the stream after just a few short weeks. Poulsen duly obliged, taking the piece home with him and eventually selling it.
It wasn't the only time Poulsen and Grant butted heads. The artist wanted to split a tree in half and insert a stone in the gap, but Bill Grant would not allow it. Poulsen expressed surprise that while trees were felled in their hundreds regularly, splitting one in half was viewed as unacceptable, yet regardless of his protests, the sculpture didn't happen. Poulsen did however follow through with the idea at various locations over the next few years and the results can be seen on his website.
Also by this artist:
Blind Wall 1997
Gert Styan 1997
Picea 1997
Sitka Horizontalis 1997