The Long Road Project

When I first heard about this retreat, I knew it was definitely something I wanted to be involved in. Having done quite a lot of research into Land Art, in particular looking at the artist Andy Goldsworthy, I had come across Richard Long's work and had some knowledge of what he was doing in his practice. The preparation for the retreat gave me a much deeper insight to how Long works in his practice, and the impact his work has had on the Land Art movement. Having been to Ilam and the surrounding areas before in the past, I was looking forward to documenting this area in an artistic way. Meeting everyone from the different courses was a great experience, everyone had a different viewpoint to bring and I felt that we all helped each other in some way to expand our work and ideas.

Usually I begin projects like this with an idea already in my mind about what I want to achieve or create, this time I couldn't come up with one definitive idea, so I decided to use the retreat to record the area around Ilam Hall in as much detail as I could. On our first exploratory walk, through Hinkley Wood, I was interested in this area because of it's SSSI status; the small and large leaved lime trees that grow in the area. Another place that really caught my interest was the fossil outcrop in the limestone hills near to Ilam Hall, about 15 minutes away across an open field. I visited the location every day and each day I spotted more and more varieties of fossils which I hadn't spotted previously.

The fossil outcrop during our first visit.

One thing I keep reflecting on in particular is the night walk, and although I still have some mixed feelings about the experience, I think that's what makes it stand out more in my mind. I initially had no intention of going along (due to fears of not being able to see where I'm putting my feet), but I went along in the end. I was panicking a lot during the beginning of the walk, but once my eyes adjusted, and with moral support and advice from members of the group (thank you!), I managed to relax a little and start to engage with the walk. I noticed how the ground felt underfoot; rocks, mud, slippery wet leaves and uneven ground stood out a lot more. The ridge and furrows in the field near the fossil outcrop felt much steeper than I remembered them during the day. Being extremely uncomfortable while on the walk, and reflecting on it after a night's sleep, I decided to go back to the same field and do a blind walk across the ridge and furrows again, using a scarf to blindfold myself. It links in with blind drawing and sculpture I created last year in my work, but was also a totally new way of working for me. 

 

During my blind walk, Vanessa documented it while Phil and Nick watched, you can see the ridge and furrows running across the field.

Looking through everything I collected, from plant specimens and rocks, to photographs, notes and drawings, I've had several new ideas that I didn't think of while I was there. Talking to everyone about their own interpretations of the area, especially those from other courses, it's expanded my own ideas of what my outcome from this retreat may be and how it may impact my future practice as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and would definitely do something like this again!