England’s Yorkshire Post reported today that public arts project carved into some of the most dramatic scenery on the Yorkshire Wolds will be officially unveiled December 9, 2011.
Ten artworks have been created by leading artists for settings along the 79-mile Yorkshire Wolds Way, beginning from the banks of the River Humber and finishing on the dramatic Filey Brigg headland.
The Yorkshire Wolds Way is one of 15 National Trails (long distance walking routes) in England and Wales and the landmark art installations will be the first series of public art works ever commissioned on a National Trail.
Local communities were consulted to develop works of art that benefit their areas and some requested pieces that help solve practical needs of their village. One proposal was for an artist-designed footbridge and another community elected to have a new artist-designed shelter for their village green.
One of the artists commissioned is Chris Drury (British, born 1948, Colombo, Sri Lanka.) His body of work includes ephemeral assemblies of natural materials, in the mode associated with Andy Goldsworthy. Drury’s Thixendale work uses the earth to form a large spiral that reaches across the valley floor to a recreated dew pond.
His work is found in Europe and the United States. One of his “Cloud Chambers” is along the North Carolina Museum of Art hiking trail. These circular chambers work on the principle of a camera obscura. The interiors are dark, the entrance being from a door or curved passageway, the floor or viewing surface is white, and there is a small aperture or lens in the ceiling or wall. Images of clouds, branches, waves, landscape, are projected inside. Below is another example of Chris Drury’s artwork.
