Waymarkers
Reece Ingram 1998
The old sculpture posts, numbered wooden stumps which helped to point the walker in the direction of an artwork, were starting to look a little worn by the end of the 1990s, so Reece Ingram was drafted in to carve some new ones. Many of the sculptures had their own unique sculpture post featuring a different animal design, and a bunch of them were rounded up and put on the Ridding Wood Trail, resulting in a little wooden zoo of sorts.
Ingram talks about his approach to the art of carving on his website:
"Reece mostly carves in stone and wood, enjoying the engagement with these materials, their history and structure and the challenge of the reductive process which carving requires. Carving is a simple, repetitive act where there is a direct connection with the solid physical world."
As can also be seen with 'Sethera' further up the trail, carving in wood is a major part of Reece Ingram's work. He is responsible for the face in the tree which can be found in the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Park.
The pictures below are examples of some of the posts which were out in the forest, the caterpillar is the marker for 'Taking A Wall For A Walk', while the owl was for 'Deer Hunter' and the snake was, I think, for 'Forest Fugue'. The unwary rambler could be forgiven for thinking that these were the sculptures, since some of them were so good. It's also worth pointing out that some of them are still out there.
In 2000, Grizedale Arts took over from the Grizedale Society, and the duty of looking after the artworks in the forest fell to them. Grizedale Arts were seeking to change the direction of the sculpture and pushed back against the old wooden works. As a result, Ingram's Waymarkers were, for the most part, removed. They didn't stop there though; the posts were chopped up and incorporated into a piece called 'Spawn of the Grizedale Beast', which was displayed in the Visitor Centre.
Also by this artist:
Sethera 1998
