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U S C H O L A S T I C

COVER Andy Goldsworthy,b. 1956.Arch, 1997.CAndy Goldsworthy

Maurice R.Robinson,founder of Scholastic Inc.,189S-1982

FO R THE NATI ONAL GALLE RY OF ART Director EARL A.POWELL Ill

Chair,Division of Education LYNN PIERSON RUSSELL

F O R S CHOLASTIC INC.President, C.E.O.,

Chairman of the Board RICHARD ROBINSONEditor MARGARET HOWLETI

Art Director DEBORAH DINGER Photo Editor LINDA EGER

Contributing Editors DEN ISE WILLISUZANNE BILYEU

Production Editor PAUL SCHERR Copy Chief RENEE GLASER

Ed ucation Group President MA RG ERY MAYER VP, General Managor, Read To learn GREG WORRELL VP, Editor in Chid,ci.moom mags REBECCA BON DOR

Dosign D irector,ci.moom mags JUDITH CHRIST-LAFOND Em.Dir.of Photography STEVEN DIAMOND

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VP, Marketing JOCELYN FORMAN Muketing Manago, ALLICIA CLARK

SCH OUSTIC ART ADVISO RY BOARD,Lana Beverlin, Harrison R. IV School, Gilman Cily,Missouri • Carol Little, Charlts F. Patton M iddle School, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania • Lydia N arldewicz, Pioneer High School,Whittier, Cali fornia • Sue Rothermel, Wynford Middle School,Bucyrus, Ohio

POSTAL INFORMATIONSchoLastic Arte (ISSN 1060-832X;in CanadJ,2-c no.SS867) is pub lished si1 timts during tht school JH.r, SeplJOct.,No,., DecJJin.. ftb., Mu,AprJMay,by SchoWUc Inc. Olfice of Publiution: 2931E. MtClltJ Strut, P.O . 801 3710, Jefferson City, MO 65102-3710. Puiodiul postage piid at Jefferson City, MO 65101 ind it iddition

.._ "Every rock has a feeling of the lives that have lived in that place."-Andy Goldsworthy

ei an

shownon the cover ofthis issue, and what do you think he's doing? In the photograph onthe left, is the primitive-looking shape of a human figure inscribed on a large rock some kind of ancient cave painting? Is the mysterious image (bottomright) a lunar eclipse or a photo taken from outer space? And, in the picture (top right), why doesa gleaming spira l shape appear to be encircling a tree that is growing in the middle of the woods?

All these unique photos were taken by a very unusual artist named Andy Goldsworthy. This British artist creates the majority of his works outside. He uses no tools to con struct them and works only with materials he finds by

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Rain Shadowr Gatetawbridge, Oumfriesshire, Scotland . July, 1q93_C Andy Goldsworthy, Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York. season of

the year, the weather, and the artist's location at the time give him his subjects and ideas.

Goldsworthy considers his work to be a collaboration with nature saying, "I couldn't possibly try to improve on Nature. I'm only trying to understand it by an involvement in some of its processes." His work is about growth and decay, the change of seasons, and the idea that-as in nature-a workof art has a life that must eventually come to an end. Most of Goldsworthy's pieces are made in rugged, inaccessible places. They are painstakingly

created, then gradually worn away by wind, rain, and the heat of the sun. The stone arch (cover)

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Celebrating Nature"I want my art to , --.:::.,.._embody the beautyof the a&t of creation."

-Andy Goldsworthy

.,.. The artist refers to this frozen spiral -made by attaching i ndividual icicle s with water -as the "tree's soul."Rttonstructed icicftslaround a tttt, 28 D«ember 1qq5_ Glen Marlin Falls, Oumfritsshire, Scotland. 0 Andy Goldsv.orthy, Courltsy Galerie Lelong, NYork.

that the artist constructed on a remote hillside in 1997 will last longer than the spiral madefrom individual icicles joined together (right), or the circles of leaves painstakingly placed ar0tmd a concave hole in the ground (below). Theartist's "rain shadow," made by lying on a rock during a shower, faded in a few minutes. But even the rock arch will eventually disappear. If it weren't for the photos Goldsworthy makes right after each work is finished, hardly anyof his pieces would ever be seen.

To create his very personal constructions, Goldsworthy uses nature and natural processes. But he rearranges the natural order, replacing accident and chaos with orderly progression.

The artist makes use of universal shapes found in nature-spirals, concentric circles, holes, arches, jagged lines, and rainbow colors-but dislocates them and arranges them in ways that contradict natural law.Goldsworthy uses shapes, lines, textures, spaces and colors in ways that remind the viewer of other things.A person's shape on a rock could be an ancient painting, a burial site, or a tombstone. A translucent spiral cir cling a tree photographed as it reflects the last rays of sunlight suggests something spiritual. And, a round hole surrounded by bright, warm red, orange, and yellow con centric circles has a cosmic or otherworldly quality.

..,. "When I'm working with materials it's not just the leaf or the stone, it's the processes that are behind them that are important." -Andy GoldsworthyRowan ftd s laid around halt, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton. 25 October lqa1.O Andy GoldSMrthy

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"'lbe lines I mal{e are ones that I hope to some e"ient already e"isi-somehow followine the line of the land." -Andy Goldsworthy

ndy Goldsworthy always took an interest in his rural surroundings. But in the 1970s, the British teenager had no idea where that curiosity would eventually

lead him. Born in 1956 in northern England , Goldsworthy made his first outdoor sculptures in the woods near his house. Working on nearby farms intensified his interest in the landscape around him. A poor student in high school, his career choices seemed limited when he was rejected from his top choice colleges. He graduated from a local artschool where he took his first and only photography course.When he was 22, the artist sold photos of some of thepieces he had constructed in natural settings. Goldsworthy's works were so unusual that he didn't have an exhibition until 1986. Since that time he has had many shows, and has published 10 books of his photos. Today, Goldsworthy lives in Scotland and creates his best works in the almostuntouched countryside surrounding him.

What feeling do you get when you look at this landscape (bottom right) or the one on pages 8-9? By merely pushing reeds into the bottom of a lake and tying them together, the artist has produced beautiful, but bizarre effects. The subject of this horizontal, nearly symmetrical composition is a majestic landscape reflected in the still water of a mountain lake. The work has a definite foreground, middleground, and background. It is the middleground that captures thev iewer's attention-a weblike network of parallel, vertica l lines. The mirror image produced by the reflection creates the illusion of a geometric construction floating above the water. Angular , artificial linear patterns contrast with the natural organic shapes of the hills. The manipulation of scale-the linear network seems as large as the hills-adds to the strangeness of the scene.

In constructing his works, Goldsworthy will sometimes borrow shapes from nature and transpose them to other set-

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tings. We would expect to see spiral shapes in snails or seashells, but rocks ( top left) don't arrange themselvesin spirals. Even more eye-catching is the crack that runs through the middle of each rock. This spiral shape wasmade by breaking a number of rounded stones, then arrang ing them in a progression that steadily increases in scale as it radiates out from the center. Sharp stones were used to scratch white areas around the "crack" to enhance the illu sion of "ripped stone."

Often the artist will create his pieces, such as the one top far right, by placing an object ofunusual size, color, shape, or lin ear makeup in an otherwise untouched natural setting. The contrast with the normal looking snow-covered background makes this j agged, treelike, linear object even more startling. Made of 12 straight sticks frozen together with ice, this angular construc tion looks completely out of place. Its location-on the hori zon line against the rich pinks and blues of the sunset-makes this object the focal point of the composition and further empha sizes its displacement.

""' "The work was made complete by its own reflection."- Andy Goldsworthy Early morning calm.lknotted stalks, pushed into the lake bot tom/ made compete by lhe'ir own reflection, 20 February & s q March 1988.Derwent Water, Cumbria.C Andy Goldsworthy.

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•"When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space arou nd it." -Andy Goldsworthy-- - - - - -- -- - - - -- - - - - - - Broken pebblts/ scratched white with anolMr stoM, l Junt, 1q95_ St.Abbs, TM BordtrsO Andy Goldsworthy. Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York.

•"I wanted this line to be mad e up of wood, ice, wood, ice, wood, ice." -Andy GoldsworthySticks joined by freezing ont end to anotMr; Anchorage, Alaska, November 2ti-2q, 1995.C Andy Goldsworthy.

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... Here, bright red leaves floating in water are arrangedin around a dark, transparent opening.

...These pebbles contrast a negative shape and positive ground, natural and unnatural color, and actual and implied textures.

Blue pebbles rubbed with red stones to make edge, St Abbs,The Borders, June 1984.C Andy Goldsworthy.

Japanese maple leaves stitched together to make a floating chain,Ouchiyama-Mura, Japan 21-22 November 1qs7. C Andy Goldsworthy,

Improvised Art"Worl{inc with nature means worl{inc on nature's terms."-Andy

Goldsworthy

ndy Goldsworthy has created his art all over the world-the North Pole, the Far East, the Austra lian Outback, the U.S. His pieces take on the character

istics of the landscape in which he is working. But the artist finds most of what he is looking for right around his home in Scotland. Goldsworthy discovers entire worlds hidden away in tiny, inaccessible corners of nature.

Just as he has no preconceived idea of what he is going to create, Goldsworthy brings no tools or adhesives to his worksite. What he makes is completely dependent on the environment in which he is working. "l enjoy the freedom of using my hands and 'found' tools-a stone, a feather,water, or ice." Reeds were bent and pushed into one another to make the construction on pages 8-9. Leaves were mois tened and stuck together in another work (page 7, farright). The artist rarely collects leaves unless they have fall en, and he would never break branches from a tree or use

6 ScttOLASTIC ART

materials not found right on the spot. To produce this work (top left), he used blue and red stones. He rubbed parts of the blue stones with red to create the effect of a round negative blue image surrounded by a positive red ground.

Goldsworthy not only has to work within his own rules because of his respect for nature. He must also catch what he calls the "optimum moment" in the photo he takes of each piece. That means he must wait for ju st the right com bination of weather, material, temperature, location, pointof view, and lighting. A second lost in reaching for the cam era might mean the entire project would be lost forever. A good example is the photo on page 7 (top left). The artist gathered iris blades and red berries to contrast complemen, tary color pairs and smooth and rough textures. Hepinned the blades together with thorns, to form a composi tion made up of overlapping, diagonal lines. He placed the berries, which kept spilling out, in some of the geometric

•Goldsworthy spends hours per fecting his compo sitions, like this floating work made from iris leaves and red berries.

Iris bld*s pinnN tOgtther with thoms, 2q August Iq97. 0 Andy Goldsworthy.

APRIL/MAY 2005 • SCHOLASTIC ART 7

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Ispaces. When everything was ju st right and he was aboutto take a photo, the composition began to disappear intothe water. Fish were eating parts of it from below. No sooner had this problem been solved when a flock of ducks landed and he had to begin all over again.

Nevertheless, the artist says, "the photo marks the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak th.at I hope is expressed in the image." Another goal of the photo is to "remove any trace of effort," to make the work look easy. The viewer should get a feeling of perfection, even though the piece might exist for only a few hours or even minutes.

Goldsworthy prefers to be left alone to do his work. He is glad people don't go around the countryside looking for his sculptures. His audience is made up of walkers who

.,_ Nearly every color hue in the rainbow, from warmto cool, can be found in this vertical line of leaves that seems to emerge from a tree trunk.

always use the area or pass the place by accident. He says, "I never mark my works on maps. People have to hear about them through word of mouth."

Cherry ltaves, Swindalt Bttk Wood, Cumbria Nev<mbtr 1q94_ 0 Andy Goldsworthy.

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"THERE IS A GREAT BEAST CARVED ON TOP OF THE PLACE COMMONLY CALLED WHITE HOR SE HILL."

-UFFINGTON TOWN RECORDS, llTH CENTURY

A NCIENT LAN D A RThree thousand years ago, on a grassy hill in what is now entral England, an early tribe of people created one of the first earth works (above). This 365-foot figure-possibly a giant horse-can be

viewed in full only from high in the air above it. No one really knows ju st why the long, organic curves that make up this figure were dug deep into the ground, then filled in with white chalk powder. The work could have had a religious purpose; it might have been meant to be seen only by the god for which it was built. It might have been a tribal symbol, a territorial marker, or a monument to mark a victory in battle. It could even be a rep resentation of a dragon that was said to have roamed the area in ancient times. The stylized, curving lines that form the abstract- ..The urnngton white

ed animal shape echo and repeat the smooth curves and :; ;1 s.c.Ox fordshire, England.

Sweeping IineS Of the SUrroUn ing an SCape. Photo:C Dave Collier.

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Arts, New Yor1o.. Photo, h k I I cl d

"FOR ME, ENVIRON MENTAL ART MEANS LIVING N AND BECOMING PART OF THE SPACE AS THE WORK TAKES PLACE."- HANNA VAINIO

A MO DER N MO UNTAIN

n the 1960s, an artist named Robert Smithson (below)

founded a new art form known as Earth Art, or Land Art. Many artists atthat time worked with construction equipment to build earth works, or huge environmental sculptures located in unusual places. For some of today's artists, such as Finnish sculptor Hanna Vainio, an important part of Environmental Art is the recycling of otherwise unusable materials. This triangular sculpture andpark (above) forms the highest point in the city of Helsinki, Finland. This earth work was created from dis carded rubble collected from building sites all over the city. A recreation area u ed for winter activities, grass and flowers were planted in alternating patterns on this humanmade mountain. Indented chalk paths radiate from a central area at the top of the hill. This focal point is made up of a round stone compass divided by eight markers that indicate the direction of the wind.

.A.Hanna Vainio b.19& 3. Tht Winds and The Points of tM Compass, 1998.chalkstone, plants, stones, wind vanes.Photo: C Hanna Vain o.

" AM FOR AN ART THAT DEALS WITH THE DIRECT EFFECT OF THE ELEMENTS AS THEY EXISTFROM DAY TO DAY." -ROBERT SMITHSON

A N A M ERICA N EA RT H WO R I<merican Artist Robert Smithson believed that art should not be confined to museums and galleries where it can be seen by only a few people. Art should be outside, it should be part of

life, and it should be seen by everyone. In 1970, Smithson was inspired to create his most famous piece of Earth Art-Spiral J ett)' (left) after seeing a vast ancient Native American burial mound shaped like a giant snake. Smi thson used rocks and earth to builda l,500-foot-long continuous line that forms a tight spiral running from the shore out into the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The rough texture of the black, convex rocks contrasts with the smooth, flat, slightly reddish (caused by algae) water. Over the years, the work's appearance has changed accord ing to weather, tides, seasons, and-- -- times of day. Part of Smithson's intent in build-

•Spiraf Jrtty, April 970-.Gr.at Salt Lak•, Utah. Rock, ing earth works like Spira l J ett)' was to demon-sail crystals, 15 x 1500ft.0 Estat< of Robert Sm;thsoo Strate the passage Of time and the effects Of

t t ;1 :;,N, ;:r1c. natural forces. Today, thirty;five years

after itsG;anfranco Gorgoni. Creation, t e WOr 1aS near Y isappeare .

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