The temporary installation was created at Croasdale in West Cumbria in March 2023 on the site of an old iron ore mine 900 feet above sea-level. Late winter snow gave me the opportunity to create this installation,packing in snowballs into an abandoned concrete pipe fixture .The site was littered with industrial relics giving me the opportunity to combine natural and mixed media materials.
This snow intervention was arranged in January 2021 at the site of an old railway station at Yeathouse,West Cumbria. I picked dead bracken fronds and arranged them into clusters ,facing the onlooker for maximum visual effect. It was very cold working in the sub zero conditions with occasional light breezes blowing snow from branches above onto the artwork. As the artwork was created next to a footpath,I had a few walkers pass by every now and then and we exchanged words which distracted me from the intense cold.The first winter snowfall in the area lasted for three days before a rapid thaw set in, scuppering any plans I had for future artworks.
The temporary snowball intervention was created at Hawarden Woods in Deeside,Flintshire in late February 2018.I came across a tree that had a hollow inside and proceeded to fill it with snowballs.I wanted to fill the negative interior space and see how the snowballs subsequently spilled out in response. The artwork was created in four hours ,occasionally disrupted by heavy snow showers and was made in a period of intense wintry activity. This blast of late winter from Siberia was nicknamed “The Beast From The East ” by the press and certainly lived up to its name.
The temporary snow intervention was created at Black How Woods at the foot of Dent Hill in West Cumbria,February 2018.The artwork was made in response to the bitter wintry blast of weather from Siberia which was dubbed “The Beast From The East” by the press.I pressed snow into the treetrunk and used a twig to define the text and the temperature of-2c helped the lettering to adhere to the bark.The artwork was still extant two days later and gained favourable responses from passing walkers.
“Ore Eggs”,is a mixed media installation created at the site of a long abandoned iron ore mine at Woodend, near Bigrigg in West Cumbria in February 2015.I found an old birds nest and filled it with rolled up balls of mud with a high concentration of iron ore mineral and clay and positioned it on a protruding piece of metal, itself a remnant of the iron ore industry. The implementation reminded me of the same processes I used when I was a student creating ceramic sculptures from similar creative processes. High winds constantly threatened to topple the nest and occasional bursts of sunshine illuminated the deep tones of the ‘eggs’ to good effect.
“Mudball Balance “,is a temporary installation created at Woodend in West Cumbria, at the site of a long abandoned iron ore mine.The artwork is made up of rolled mud/clay ball sediment, dug out directly from the earth.The balls were balanced upon a couple of metal rods protruding from the ground and supported by a scaffolding type of branch and twig structure to help keep the heavy mass suspended above the ground. It took several attempts to construct with the main difficulty being the sheer weight causing the bottom balls to collapse and fracture and thus topple to the ground.I had to wait for a heavy overnight frost to freeze the balls solid before attempting to create the installation again so the bottom balls could support the weight of the artwork. The mudballs were very heavy,rather like cannonballs due to the presence of high concentrations of iron ore within the ground.
“Snowspire Stacks”,was created near Rowrah in West Cumbria in January 2016 inside an old disused platelayer Hut next to a disused railway track. I took advantage of a brief spell of snow to create a temporary installation of snowball stack spires arranged inside the window frame of the hut.The dark interior illuminated the delicately balanced arrangements to good effect but it was a race against time to complete the installation as the snow was thawing out quickly, resulting in the occasional collapse of a stack.I intend to create more temporary artworks in and around the platelayer hut with the space resembling a pop up gallery.
Quite a few dogwalkers and passers by were at first bemused and interested in what I was doing ,stopping by occasionally to chat and take photographs.
“Snowline Spiral “,was created at Dent in Cumbria on January 22nd 2015.The installation was made halfway up Dent Hill overlooking Cleator Moor on the Western edge of the Lake District. The receding snowline at 250 meters above sea levels enabled me to create a delicate arrangement made up of bracken fronds placed against a snowy backdrop on a treetrunk.The background views compliment the image to good effect and it took 5 hours to make,always with the present threat of dispersal from occasional light breezes.Constant passers by greeted me with the added worry of their dogs running across the artwork. Last cold wintry day before milder air fragments and melts the snow.
“Snowball Spill”,was made in early April 2013, in Hawarden Woods, Flintshire,North Wales at the tailend of a prolonged snowy spring.A heavy fall of snow in March provided more scope to explore ideas linked with combining snow with man made materials. An old corroded oil drum was filled up with snowballs which then consequently burst out from its fragmented sides.I liked the collapsed effect of the contents spilling out with the snowballs piling up in a random manner. The displaced energy of the white snow illuminates the beautifull texture of the drums’ surface and the installation marked the end of a long season of snow art which started in Montana in October 2012.
“Bark Disc”is a midwinter snow installation created in Hawarden Woods,North Wales in January 2013.A circle is carved out from a layer of snow spread across an oak tree using a small twig as a tool.The surrounding white contrast of snow highlights the beautiful textures and colours of the treetrunk within the circle.The artwork survived for two days in the wood,sustained by bitter overnight frosts and sheltered from the effects of any thaw from direct sunshine by the presence of surrounding trees.
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