Notes

I'm a sculptor and went directly with
the land working with materials I find
in the landscape whether it be Tappan
the North Pole but it's the landscape
around my home that's the most important
to me and it's that landscape to which I
keep returning and is the place that I
can learn most about nature in my
relationship with it
I keep returning to this tree and I've
worked on it many times over the last
few years and I have made works in
different seasons and I've seen the tree
come into growth
lose it leaves and go back again in
winter
there's one in autumn they're made with
orange leaves a meandering line on the
trunk spring probably the best work I
made in spring was a dandelion line
first I had to wait for the dandelions
to open which they don't do immediately
they open if it's a sunny day and I
collected the dandelions and laid them
on top of the branch drawing the top
edge cattle have been in the field and
they tend to congregate underneath the
tree you can see the wet mud and says
have been days when I come here to work
in the cat than a cattle have been
attracted to me whilst I've been here
and they're the they're trying to eat
the things I'm making and that that I
had to abandon the work what that day
and I was trying to make something it
would somehow involve the cows but it
was a bit beyond me
I'm not particularly interested in the
names of things I do in the course of
work get to know the name of the trees
and sand birds and the fish and suchlike
but it's not paramount
I'm also attracted to those materials
are very common as I like the idea of
finding richness and extraordinary
things and those things not considered
to be extraordinary
we begun working with the with them with
the mud that the cattle of made I mean
they're really they have made it because
it's usually hard and compacted here and
difficult to work with and his good
stuff the hole has become for me that
entrance through which life ebbs and
flows and many of the works of Ashley
been holes looking in to the tree
looking through the tree the black
penetrating the tree and drawing the eye
and the mind into the tree people don't
realize that there is a strong social
nature to my art because I believe the
British landscape is there is a social
nature to it every field is there
because of the way people have worked
the place and even this tree is here
because of the way this field has been
developed and managed to understand the
tree and in summer I have to work with
its shadow and sometimes when I'm
working with lights I will make an edge
to cut the light into - into the light
and dark
I think I'm going to extend the line
he's working quite well in fact from
from further away the the line becomes
even stronger which is which is which is
great as you step back from here and
look at it now all the effort all the
work the mud quietens down and so this
black becomes stronger as Whistler I
think said about painting that the
painting is unfinished until all trace
of the effort of its making has been
removed and I often think about that
with my work
well weather today is good for this this
is perfect again that the earth is moist
which is obviously a good thing it's not
raining to have lift it rained very
heavily that's going to be the biggest
problem today if the rain comes up again
and strong it's going to wash this off
listen nice work
I think I put the calves and to give it
movement straightedge would have been a
little bit static the serpentine form is
it it's one that seems to reoccur in my
work in no way they meant to be snakes I
never described them as snakes yet I
have to acknowledge I just find them to
be the perfect sculptural form simple
line that moves in sympathy with the
surface of the land but it's not a snake
this piece is a good it's a good work I
feel as if I've broken through the
difficulties I've had with the tree in
the summer because I've introduced both
light and dark into it so it's working
with light and shadow I'm very happy
with that
into a quarry for the final stone would
water on Monday evening at 20 past 7:00
here on bbc2
and there's another work of art and the
discussion next