by Andrew Darke, oak and steel, located 1986, removed 1996
“I made two proposals and the one chosen, Sliced Log Star, was a new work in my Sliced Log series. 1 wanted to expose the life-growth history of the tree and at the same time, by siting the work near a tree of the same species and similar age, show how such a rough, venerable and craggy creature contains a cylinder of beautiful material.
A further aspect of the siting was crucial. By placing the work at the end of Spruce Ride I could draw attention to the monumental aspect of a tree, so the sculpture works much as an obelisk placed alt the end of a vista in the grounds of a stately home. This position at the end of Spruce Ride and within the boundary of the Speech House Arboretum also satisfied my wish not to impose upon the forest proper. The work also encloses an inaccessible space in the centre equivalent in volume to the original log.
The second work standing nearby is small enough for children to be able to look down upon and see the unwrapping” process that the main work has undergone.
On the technical side the critical process in the work was the cutting of the log into eight segments. The sawmill was hired for a Saturday morning and when I arrived and explained what I wanted to the sawyer he assured me it would not be possible. Four hours later, with eight beautiful segments lying on the rollers, the now smiling Welsh sawyer shook my hand and said how much he had enjoyed the morning’s work and he hadn’t thought the machinery would be capable of producing wood with a triangular cross section.”
Andrew Darke