Andy Goldsworthy Essay

Submitted By crystallpower
Words: 1457
Pages: 6

Artist
Andy Goldsworthy is a British land and environmental artists born on the 26 of July 1956 in Cheshire, England. Andy grew up in Yorkshire in England. From the age of 13, Andy worked on a farm as a labourer, while attending Harrogate High School. He studied Fine Art at the Bradford Art College in 1974 to 1975 and then went to study at Preston Polytechnic from 1975 to 1978, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He worked around the farm tasks which routine of making sculpture, a quote from Andy "A lot of my work is like picking potatoes; you have to get into the rhythm of it". From 1974-75 Andy studied at Bradford College of Art and then continued at Preston Polytechnic from 1975 to 1978. The honorary degree was given to Andy in 1993 by the University of Bradford. He is now an A.D. White Professor-At-Large at Cornell University. He is now at the University of Central Lancashire and in 1993 he received an honorary degree by the University of Bradford
Andy Goldsworthy is known to be a sculptor, photographer and environmentalist, creating different ranges of sculpture and land art which are placed in natural and urban settings. He creates exquisite temporary sculptures from a range of natural materials; snow, ice, leaves, bark, rock, clay, stones, feathers petals and twigs. He creates outdoor sculpture in the area where he finds his material, which displays an understanding connection with the natural world. As and completes his work photographs his artworks once in the angle he wants. Andy uses a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns to creations some to his creations, he has been quoted as saying"I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and "found" tools”. For Andy’s temporary works, he often uses only his bare hands, teeth, and found tools to prepare and arrange the materials and for his permanent sculptures like "Roof", "Stone River" and "Chalk Stones" in the South Downs he uses machine tools. Andy works from personal feelings and instincts.
Andy won his share of awards, he was first awarded the Yorkshire Arts Award in 1980 and then in 1981 he was awarded with the Northern Arts Award, which he was again awarded in 1982. As Andy’s continued with his creation over the years, he was given the Northern Arts Bursary in 1986, and then the following year he resaved the Scottish Arts Council Award in 1987. The Northern Electricity Arts Award was given to him in 1989. Andy then proudly resaved the honorary degree from the University of Bradford in 1993. In 2000 Goldsworthy he was awarded with the appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Andy still this day contained creating incredible artworks, showing us that nature can also be created to be magnificent formations. My first impression is that the artworks seem to suggest a different way of looking at the environment, making it from scrapes into something beautiful. Making it seem unrealistic, that something ruined is brought up and created into something unrealistic. It makes me think and think differently about the environment. “eerie” and surreal look/style used to create confusion and emotion. Andy explores and interacts with the natural environment; he “feels” the energy from natural and transcends this into an art form. He tries to reinforce the relationship between human existence and nature. Andy creates “tension” towards viewers by making works with a hole, to encourage viewers to look beyond and use their imaginations. Andy is a sympathetic towards Green Movement, ecological concerns. He belongs to no church. He usually works on small or comparatively small scales, he does this by reflecting and what he finds, he sees his work growing both smaller and larger. Working with others, communally working in public are a meeting-point between earth and human nature; social events, social landmarks. All his private work-places are public in that he has to deal with farmers, land-owners, gamekeepers, walkers and so on, but he doesn’t really