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There are currently 17 sculptures which can be seen on the trail. A further 12 are no longer visible, or have been decommissioned due to safety reasons, or are returning to the forest floor.
Threshold is a new permanent sculpture by artist Natasha Rosling sited by a sheltered woodland pond on the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail.Coal measure Giants explores the Forest of Dean’s geology and its industrial and sociological history through two sculptures placed 300 metres apart. The sculptures act as markers, measuring the depth of the coal seam that lies directly below the forest.Yaşasin Turkish for Hooray!, Yaşasin was handcrafted from a sweet chestnut tree felled on site. Visitors are invited to sit and walk within the sculpture to contemplate and observe the ever-changing nature of the forest around themThe Heart Of The Stone Tim Lees has sited his sculpture on the top of the Rose in Hand coal mine, a disused drift mine overlooking the wooded Cannop Valley.Charcoal Measure (decommissioned 2018) Lines of charcoal made from the decommission of “Place” compressed into a series of black trenches scored into the ground. The work enables visitors to the Sculpture Trail to trace the locations of hidden coal excavations that exist 1000ft under foot.Raw This project resulted from a Year of the Artists residency undertaken by Neville Gabie in the autumn 2000 and spring/summer of 2001. It was realised with the financial assistance of South West Arts, the Forestry Commission and Arnolfini Collection Trust and the co-ordination by Bruce Allan and Samantha Wilkinson..Cathedral The iconic, world renowned hanging stained glass window by Kevin AthertonSentient Forest Andrea Roe (decommissioned 2019) Solar powered LED work that mimics underground mycelial networks and, when triggered, communicates the presence of passing walkers to nearby treesEcho When Annie Cattrell was first appointed in January 2007 to create a new sculpture for the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail, she was given a fairly open brief – to respond to the Forest of Dean. The site was simply the ‘sculpture trail’, although there was a preference to install a new work in an area contained within a triangle of land between Beechenhurst Lodge, Speech House car park and Neville Gabies sculpture, Raw.Iron Road The Iron Road was installed along a stretch of disused railway embankment deep in the Forest. Twenty evenly spaced railway sleepers placed on the gentle curve of a disused railway line bring the spirit of the Forest’s industrial past to life. Skilfully carved out of the wood are poetic images of natural or industrial life-a feather, a leaf, a wheel, a factory or a cloud. The jar with water pouring out refers to the stream running under the embankment.House I already knew the Forest of Dean quite well having assisted Magdalena Jetelova with the construction of the `Giant’s Chair’ the previous year. Whilst there I experienced or sensed a feeling not only of calm but also of solitude, which seemed to pervade the area; a different kind of solitude to that experienced within an urban environment or mountainous landscape, which can feel uncomfortable, even threatening at times.Place Commanding a magnificent view of the Cannop Valley this decommissioned structure was placed like a huge throne, or sits like a giant surveying his territory. Recalling the prehistoric structures of Stonehenge, the sculpture appears already to have stood for centuries. With its irregular stance it is also reminiscent of a strange animal in one of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, striding across the landscape..Hill33 David began his research in the Forest of Dean in 2009, having just returned from living at Camp Bastion as a war artist. The camp is surrounded and protected by HESCO Concertainer units (a form of gabion structure) and their industrial presence echoed in his thoughts as he met people in the Dean.Observatory I was overwhelmed by the scale, energy and presence of the trees, and spent several days tramping through Beechenhurst on and off the paths looking at what was there, getting a feeling of the place and wondering how my own ideas might fit in. I took along with me the knowledge that globally forests and jungles are being stripped, exploited for timber and cleared for farming..Melissa’s Swing (decommissioned 2014) Peter Appleton’s sculpture, Melissa’s Swing was conceived as a kind of Aeolian Harp to be suspended in a tree for the wind to activate into sound. Since the wind is less noticeable in summer when most people would visit the sculptures, he felt that people should be able to make the sound for themselves, by pulling on an attached rope.Cone and Vessel Peter Randall-Page has carved two complementary works. Created on a large scale, these intricate, organic forms are revealed in all their detail and draw our attention to the tiny fragile shapes that exist in the forest. The sculptures are placed under their respective trees and they reflect the balance in the Dean between deciduous and coniferous trees. The colour of the Forest of Dean sandstone quarried nearby varies from pink to greenIn Situ In Situ by Erika Tan was completed in 2003. It comprises a number of industrial earthworks that have been enhanced to draw attention to the post-industrial landscape.Hanging Fire Hanging Fire by Cornelia Parker 1988. “When I visited the forest in December it was raining gently and the place seemed to glow as if it were twilight. There was a feeling of being underwater, the bare trees were rimed with green, covered as they were with various lichen. This green vibrated against the bright orange floor, carpeted with leaves and pine needles.”Grove of Silence Ian Hamilton Finlay’s tree plaques draw attention to the silence in the forest. In their simplicity of form and statement, they make us pause for thought, and help us become more aware of the need to be still and quiet in the presence of nature.Fire and Water Boats Near Black Dome, in a secret hollow through which a stream flows down a man-made canal, you can discover a flotilla of small charred boats, setting out across the green marsh.Deer This deer was installed separately from Sophie Ryder’s much larger work “Crossing Place”, which incorporated 13 deer and had originally been envisaged as a group of 20 deer.Black Dome From the embankment of a disused railway line a black dome shape can be seen against the colours of the bracken; a charcoal stack or an ancient burial mound? Whatever it is you sense a quiet presence in the landscape. On closer inspection the dome is made of some 900 tapered and charred larch logs situated at the centre of a ring of trees, evoking many different ideas and images. The mood of the piece changes as the seasons change and it will eventually melt into the landscape.Dead Wood Forests-places of burial and concealment … five steel plates dug into the forest floor amongst a regiment of larch … they bear faint traces, memories of European forests devastated by war.
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