Marks of Time VII

16 years ago I finished my first sculptural installation in the landscape of SouthWest Scotland - it was called Quorum and consisted of 6 heads carved from dyke stones and then reinstalled in the dyke. It was sited in Galloway Forest Park in an old sheep fank that was in a clearing in the forestry plantation. I've not visited the work for many years - but was there today

A gauche and (much) younger me - with Quorum in 1997 - loving notebook and pen in pockets and hair and waistline!

You can see more on the work itself here

I was delighted to see the work was still intact (one of the six heads vanished soon after the work was installed) - I love how it has all shifted slightly as, I guess, folk have knocked the heads down and others have put them back........but oh, how I love the way it has weathered!

Quorum 2013 - the three granite heads have their eyes closed and have no view out of the fank

Quorum 2013 - the Greywacke heads have their eyes open and look beyond the fank

The area or forestry around Quorum has recently been harvested - the work was originally about the way the dykes were remnants of a lost world within the plantation.....now the heads have outlasted the crop of trees - I wonder, what next for this place?

The reason I was in the are was to accompany artist James Winnett as he looked for a site for his installation that will be part of Environmental Art Festival Scotland. James needed a high waterfall and it looks like the Grey Mare's Tail in Galloway Forest Park could be the one:

James Winnett - Grey Mare's Tail, Newton Stewart

It is a very special privilege to watch an artist discovering a site for the first time - the Environmental Art Festival is proving a memorable project to be working on already....thanks James, for a grand day in Galloway