The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust and Forestry England have worked in partnership for the last 35 years to create this vital Sculpture Trail.
The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust CIO is a registered charity that raises funds and commissions sculptures for the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail, a Forestry England site.
By commissioning artists at crucial stages in their careers, the FODST provides opportunities for creative professional development. The Trust’s expertise in selecting artists at early stages in their careers is nationally recognised as vital to their subsequent international profile. For example, the trail was the location of David Nash’s first ‘dome’, a structure which the artist has now created in locations across the world.
Unlike other sculpture parks, all the artworks you see on the trail are site-specific. They were not simply placed there – they were developed on location and inspired by the particular setting of the Forest of Dean. The forest has a fascinating history, and the immediate impression of rural and romantic idyll belies the historical tensions between industrial and sylvan, man-made and natural, utopian and dystopian, settlement and wilderness. Our artists bring new perspectives to these unique and important stories of the forest.
As well as commission artists we also organise partnerships with local community groups and schools.
Of course, you will bring with you your own stories, narratives and experiences which will influence the way you encounter these secret artworks in the forest. We hope you enjoy them now and in the future, over the changing of the seasons and as new works begin appearing over the next phase of commissioning.
