KIELDER ONSITE - Opening event

A wonderful day was had by all on our visit to Kielder Water and Forest Park for the opening event of the KIELDER: ONSITE exhibition.

Our first drop off point was the Lewisburn inlet, the site of Simon Court's floating sculpture, Waveform.

Simon explains, 

"The idea for this floating sculpture began on Waiheke Island off the coast of New Zealand in response to the sea, natural bush and a working boat yard. This has been translated to respond to Kielder water. The form can be seen as a wave, crescent moon, or part of the Yin Yang symbol."

The coach then drove to Kielder Castle where we begun the walk along the Duchess Trail. The majority of the artworks were located on this route.

The first artwork we came across on this meandering circular route through part of the forest was Eve Kossmann's Forest Clock. This collection of handmade clay mushrooms are displayed in an arrangement resembling that of a sundial.

"This installation represents a documentation of time since the artist’s first visit to Kielder as a child. In an ever-changing environment mushrooms have remained a small yet beautiful life form on the forest floor, often overlooked in such a vast site."

Pyramidal Edifice is a copper and steel sculpture by Anthony Hensman. 

Anthony explains that "This sculpture suggests the structural order of the forest. Through use of the golden ratio, the tower mathematically structures the space at the edge of vision. Its exterior mass becomes a paradoxical container for the indeterminacy of the immaterial. "

A Long Wait by Mirela Bistran is an installation of three chairs that have been made from stumps of trees cut to thin the forest. This work contemplates the very slow regenerative power of the forest. 

Stop When Light Shows Red by Oliver Hoffmeister & Harry Pickup consists of a pair of traffic lights facing each other and suspended in the trees.  As night time sets in, motion sensors detect the movement of people which in turn switch the red lights on the traffic lights. 

"In this installation, the dissonance created between the urban traffic lights and the seemingly ‘natural’ landscape helps allude to the forest’s past of villages such as Plashetts."

Mirela Bistran's Tree Shirt  consists of a long piece of fabric, shaped in the form of a half-cylinder, rising from a stump. 

The intention for this piece is to resemble a shirt – a plain tree shirt – which reflects a matrix for all the trees in a monoculture forest.

Leina Taylor's "work reflects the forest’s unusual beginnings as a man-made site. 

 "Sculptures made up of organic matter sandwiched between layers of plaster occupy the forest space and slowly disintegrate, displaying the effects of the environment on its man-made structure."

Nearly back at the start of the Duchess Trail, we found J J Lloyd's artwork, Being Here. Nestled in a patch of land off the beaten track, a vinyl disc marks the spot. 

This is a giant version of the symbol used on the Kielder visitor maps to indicate the location of an artwork. The works explores reality and symbolism.

The group then made our way to the Observatory to see TRIGGER. Pipi and I were gutted to discover that the sound was not playing and the speaker could not be switched on. After all our research, planning and lots of effort, we were disappointed that it was not in the state that we left it. A potential reason why it was not operating is because the solar panel did not have sufficient solar energy to charge the speaker. However, there are many variables and reasons why it was not playing and so we will go up and investigate further. We are thinking of other solutions to enable the audience to hear the sound whilst standing under the structure. One possibility is to install a MP3 player and a set of headphones within the inside of the box.

A little way down the road is James Turrell's Skyspace, the venue for the Sarah Grundy's performance. 

The voice was employed to depict a possible future for the forest. Water was the focus of the performance using actions linked to ritual. 

It was a great day celebrating the completion of a variety of works made by students at different stages of their Fine Art education at Newcastle University.

Thanks to those who came along. I hope that you enjoyed it.

The works will be installed until 30th September 2016, so there is still plenty of time to see them for yourself!

TRIGGER Install at the Observatory, Kielder Water and Forest Park

After much preparation, today was the big day; installing TRIGGER at our chosen site by the Observatory at Kielder Water and Forest Park.

On arrival we surveyed the ground where we had planned to site the work. The area around had become rather overgrown with grass and cotton plants, but we were surprised to find that the exact spot that we had marked out  previously for TRIGGER was pretty much the same. Even the 4 twigs we had put in place to mark where the structure was to go were still in place!

We began by measuring out the area where the posts were to be instead, and dug the holes for the poles to be inserted into. The ground was very soft, and we were able to scoop out the material (it can hardly be described as earth!) with our hands. The smell was overpoweringly disgusting, and I dread to think what it was that was producing such a pungent smell!

We then measured the each pole and marked the place of the pole that should be at ground level. We also measured the depth of each hole and calculated how much of the bottom of the tree pole we needed to saw off in order for the post to be the right size.

Having already determined which pole needed to go into each hole, our next task was to insert each pole into each hole. Thankfully we had a very willing and able troop of helpers at hand!

Once the posts were meeting at the top, we inserted the bolts into the holes we had drilled in the posts on our last visit to Kielder.

Amazingly, the bolts fitted into the holes with very little difficulty, and the structure was rather secure. With a little bit of wiggling and readjusting, we were able to get the structure upright and level.

We then unwrapped the box which already contained the speaker and USB. The solar panel had been attached.

We hoisted the box up inside the legs, and tightened the jubilee clips to hold the box onto the posts in the correct place.

Before we tighten the jubilee clips securely, we ensured that all levels were even and that the box was in the correct place and at the right angle. We also tested that the audio was working properly to ensure that we wouldn't need to take the box off the posts. All was good to go!

We poured water into each of the holes in the ground and poured postcrete into the holes and waited for about 20 minutes for it to solidify. 

We tightened the jubilee clips and bolts and then applied the finishing touches such as the bands of coloured tape at the top and bottom of the posts. We also added a couple of additional stripes to the box to make it more eye catching.

We spent some time adjusting the volume of the audio. After a good wipe over and few last touches of black paint we were able to stand back and enjoy the results!

We would like to thank everyone who helped with the install, and everyone who assisted us on the way. It has been a pleasure working with you and we hope that you enjoy the resulting artwork.

More details of the launch and exhibition duration will be issued shortly.

TRIGGER preparatory install

Today was a big day in terms of our artwork Trigger. We drove up to Kielder Forest and Water Park where we had access to the Art and Architecture studio for the day and were going to prepare the structure ready for installation. 

The Forestry Commission had kindly delivered the timber from Kielder that we requested to use for the posts for our structure.



Our first task was to attach the jubilee clips to the box in which the equipment will be housed. The jubilee clips will hold the posts in place and attached to the outside of the box.

With only 3 pairs of hands, 4 posts at over 4metres long, and a set of ladders that were slightly too small for our needs, erecting the structure fully was rather challenging and took many attempts.



On the patch of land outside the studio, we measured out the distance between the poles at the base of the structure and dug 4 holes in the ground in which our poles would fit in. We hoisted the 2 diagonal poles and marked the angle and position where the coach bolt should go in order to attach the two poles together.

Back on the ground, I then used a hand borer to bore the holes through the logs.

We then hoisted the diagonal poles together and Eddie positioned the coach bolt inside the posts. 

Following the same procedure for the other diagonals was impossible, and we came across various problems such as the coach bolt being too short because we had to go further down the pole in order not to meet the other coach bolt. We did mange to get 4 poles up and into position with the holes for the coach bolts in place. On the actual day of install we will need double the number of people (6 in total) to enable us to safely get the poles in place, bolted together and attach the box to the poles. Lets not forget that we also need to get the solar panel connected to the box and the speaker, and then to decide upon the suitable volume for the audio!

Any volunteers greatly appreciated! Please contact me (email address below) if you are up for a challenge!

helen.shaddock@yahoo.co.uk

KIELDER OFFSITE - XL GALLERY - Exhibition Photos

KEILDER: ON SITE / OFF SITE is a collaborative project initiated by Newcastle University’s Fine Art Department and The Keilder Partnership, which commenced in summer 2015. The ambitious year-long project set out with the aim of practically exploring the opportunities of the unique environment of Kielder Forest for visual art. The project will culminate in the creation of a group of semi-temporary works created by staff and students to be sited in the forest and Keilder Observatory (launching 17/06/16).

OFF SITE is an exhibition of work created by participants of the project. 

It is housed in the Ex-Libris Gallery opening a month before ON SITE launches in Keilder Forest and Water Park. 

The exhibition provides an insight into the working methodologies of the artists involved and serves as a space to critically question the notion and importance of location, scale and collaboration whilst working both in and outside the conventional gallery setting. 

The exhibition contains a variety of works spanning from different stages of the project, from conceptual and technical drawings right through to finished works yet to be installed on location. 

Some artists have used the opportunity to create a new work linked to their work to be sited at Kielder, but specifically for the gallery context. 

A temporary and short exhibition run has lent itself to creating works on site which suggest at the possible outcomes of some of the projects involved.

Participating Artists:

Mirela Bistran / Rochus Braun / Simon Court / Sarah Grundy / Anthony Hensman / Oliver Hoffmeister & Harry Pickup / Eve Kossmann / JJ Lloyd / Helen Shaddock & Pipi-Lovell Smith / Leina Taylor

Leina Taylor

Anthony Hensman

JJ Lloyd

Oliver Hoffmeister & Harry Pickup

Helen Shaddock & Pipi-Lovell Smith

Simon Court 

Mirela Bistran

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                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