2009

Andy Goldsworthy

Stone Coppice

Stone Coppice places large rocks among the growing branches of coppiced trees. The trees gradually entwine and elevate the rocks, offering a counterintuitive revelation of which of the elements in the piece is most powerful.

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A coppiced wood is one in which the trees are cropped, throwing up new growth and becoming multi-stemmed which gives the wood a strong feeling of linear verticality. In Stone Coppice, each stone has been placed in a tree with limbs able to receive it and the vertical movement increases the sense that the stones are being pulled out of the ground and pushed upwards. Alongside Stone Coppice, Jupiter Artland’s permanent collection includes three other artworks by Goldsworthy: Clay Tree Wall, Coppice Room and Stone House (Bonnington).

“Stone Coppice will always be a work in progress, the future of which is not, and probably never will be, resolved.”
Andy Goldsworthy

About Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist. He was born in 1956. He was brought up on the Harrogate side of Leeds in the green belt. Here he took on work as a farm labourer as a schoolboy and said that the repetitive nature of the work informed his future art. He studied Fine Art at Bradford College of Art from 1974 to 1975 and then at Preston Polytechnic from 1975 to 1978. He now lives in Dumfriesshire and travels the world undertaking commissions and creating works.

Andy Goldsworthy produces site-specific sculpture and land art set in natural and rural settings. His art involves natural and found objects to create temporary and permanent sculptures that reflect the character of their environment. He is well known for his ephemeral pieces which are made from natural materials such as snow, ice, wood, flowers, leaves, sand, mud and twigs.