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Seven Spires

Andy Goldsworthy 1984

Go up the road from the Bogle Crag car park and take the first footpath off to the right; this was the site of Andy Goldsworthy's towering 'Seven Spires'. The making of this piece meant that Goldsworthy had to get used to working among pine trees, a process he describes at length in 'A Sense Of Place':

"In the past I have found Grizedale a hard area to work in. I have visited once or twice each year and have never really come to understand the place. I have tended to work in parts that are similar to other woods I have worked in and avoided the pine forests, yet these take up a massive area of Grizedale and therefore play a huge part in forming the present character of the place.

I have always felt a need to come to terms with the pine forests. It is basic to my way of working that when faced with a material or area I find difficult it is my approach and use of material that must change. I like being forced to work and look in different ways and in this respect I have always felt a massive potential at Grizedale to provoke change.

I wanted the pine tree to dictate the idea, scale, form, construction and location of the piece and I chose to work within the pine woods - avoiding tempting clearings. Working on the same scale as the trees demanded the use of equipment and helpers. This gave the work the air of an event, which I enjoyed. It was good to stretch my muscles in this direction and come to terms with making a work in a public place.

In making the spires I wanted to concentrate the feelings I get from within a pine wood of an almost desperate growth and energy driving upward. The spire also seemed appropriate with its references to churches and, in particular, the cathedral with its architectural use of lines leading the eye skyward. I also felt a similarity in the subdued brown light and stillness found both in cathedrals and pine forests. This deadness and little seasonal change was perhaps necessary in making my first 'permanent' piece that in a sense has been suspended from processes of growth and decay - it allowed me to concentrate on one thing over a long period of time. Having said that I am now getting urges to move over to the other side of the valley, away from the formality of the pine tree and get to grips with the anarchic growth of the oak, ash and beech."

Although 'Seven Spires' was Andy Goldsworthy's first sculpture at Grizedale, he initially came to the forest in the late seventies as apprentice to David Nash, helping with some of the very first artworks.

Photograph by Val Corbett

Also by this artist:

Woven Ash Ball 1984

Sidewinder 1985

Cone 1988

Taking A Wall For A Walk 1990

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