Building upon the photographic research I carried out in Bexhill Highwoods during 2023, I embarked upon the annual art challenge for April 2024, #30Works30Days organised by ArtQuestLondon, intending to produce and share a piece of artwork daily.
I spent April focussed on process and making, this allows the intellectual to fade into the background as my physical and emotional sense of the work is allowed to respond. I am driven by the need to post a piece of work every day while using the time to explore ideas I have been mulling over for some time with nature, climate change and interdependence.
Building sculptures using Holly brash – the small branches produced when pruning or felling trees – allows the material to be removed from the woodland to become something `other’. An artwork that when it decays back into the undergrowth will improve the quality of the woodland understory.
The digital work explores the use of 3D digital lines to depict the local people who work in the woodlands to maintain the Highwoods for public use. Their work leaves lines on the palimpsest of the woodland’s historic story.
By the end of the art challenge, I achieved a block of work that provided me with a clear sense of what I wanted to do before I moved into the production phase of this project. It has deepened my understanding of what I want to communicate about the woodland. You can see them all on my YouTube Channel.
Now it is time to get outside and start making.