Big Art Mob

The sculpture within Grizedale Forest is in the process of being mapped on the Big Art Mob, allowing our audiences to view the work digitally. The Big Art Mob is a project which aims to plot all pieces of public art in the world onto a Google Map Platform. The mapping of the work is done by the general public, as well as by arts organisations who want people to be able to see what is available. It allows for information on the pieces, in our case, in Land Art and Site Specific work, to be made available to all interested. It is especially important to us here at Grizedale as it is a fantastic way to keep our audience updated; the nature of the work here means pieces are decommissioned and added more frequently then our sculpture guides and hand maps can be updated. To have a look at what we have mapped so far, please visit www.bigartmob.com and type in the postcode: LA22 OQJ in the top right search bar. Each red dot indicates a piece of work- have fun exploring and keep checking back as we update it further!

That was a great half term

We've really enjoyed having so many visitors over the last two weeks as families have enjoyed half term.  That so many people were able to enjoy the wonderful weather last weekend and for the early part of this week was fantastic.  I was lucky enough to meet a barn owl called fidget and to build nest boxes with those of you who dropped in.  I'd love to hear when those nest boxes are up in your garden and when the new tenants move in so please leave a comment or tweet us at @FCGrizedale.  We all look forward to seeing you again as soon as possible.

New sculptures at Grizedale Forest

We have two great new sculptures at Grizedale Forest for 2013. The first - Concrete Country, a 2.5metre-tall concrete representation of a typical country stile was created by artist Lucy Tomlins. A recent graduate of the Royal College of Art, London, Lucy’s work often draws from everyday objects and involves a form of remaking of these ‘ready-mades’. With this approach she hopes her work also causes a re-looking at the original object and, specifically in this instance, at the form, texture and functional aesthetic of a nearby traditional wooden stile.

Concrete Country

“The stile, an iconic symbol of the English landscape, alludes to the feelings of freedom gained from walking surrounded by nature and speaks of journeys, transition and movement.

“This, juxtaposed with the industrial materials more readily associated with the city, hopefully reflects our interconnected relationship with both these environments as we navigate our lives between the two.”- Lucy Tomlins

The sculpture, winner of the 13^th annual Battersea Park Sculpture Award, has been located in a beautiful area of thinned larch trees which is flooded with light. Sited next to a natural crossing point across a shallow beck, the viewer can consider the parallels of crossing the water and the oversized stile.

Check next week's blog for more information about another new sculpture, Romeo, by artists Owen Bullet and Rupert Ackroyd. 

www.grizedalesculpture.org

    

Meeting a Barn Owl and Building Nest Boxes

On Friday, for the first time in my life, I saw an owl.  The owl, called Fidget, is one of the World Owl Trust’s barn owls.  Fidget brought Millie, a member of staff at the World Owl Trust.  Fidget didn’t live up to her name and stood extremely calmly on Millie’s hand as Millie told the public about the work of the World Owl Trust around Cumbria. 

The Forestry Commission has worked closely with the World Owl Trust to encourage land owners to put up nest boxes for barn owls at suitable sites so it was great to have them carry out educational work at Grizedale.  If you missed out on meeting Fidget then don’t worry, the World Owl Trust will be at Whinlatter on the 10^th April where you’ll be able to have a go at dissecting and owl pellet. 

Friday also saw us building nest boxes and bird feeders in the back rooms of the Yan.  It was good fun and it’s great to think that the nest boxes that were built will home to some breeding birds soon, fingers crossed.  Thank you to everyone who came and got involved.

As the nest box and feeder building went so well and there are still many people on half term, we’ve decided to run the nest box building event again this week, on Thursday from 10 till 4!  This time we won’t be joined by the World Owl Trust but there will still be plenty to see and do so come to Grizedale and pop into the Yan.

As with last week, there will be a charge of £7 for making a nest box and we ask for a small donation for making a feeder.

Pictures from Friday are on their way so we’ll let you know when they have been added

Celebrating National Nest Box Week

This week we are celebrating national nest box week at Grizedale and we’d love you to join us.  We have a display in the visitor centre all week and a big bird box making event on Friday with the World Owl Trust who are bringing a barn owl.

At Grizedale we manage the forest for wildlife as well as people.  One way we give our native species a helping hand is providing them with nest boxes which also gives us a way to keep an eye on how they are doing.  Next time you are in the forest keep an eye out for the nest boxes.  For this week only we’ve brought a variety of nest boxes inside, into the visitor centre.  We have garden bird nest boxes, owl boxes, a bat box and a nest box of another species… but you’ll have to come to Grizedale to find out about that one.  We also have a free ‘Who Lives in a Nest Like This?’ self led trail around the forest to help make your walk even more interesting.

If you’ve always wanted to enjoy birds nesting in your garden but have never gotten around to going out and buying a nest box then why not come to Grizedale on Friday (15^th of February) and build a nest (for a charge of £7)!  On Friday the World Owl Trust will also be joining us and will be bringing a barn owl with them for you to meet.  If you’d like to find out about a conservation project local to Grizedale then they’ll be happy to tell you about the Rusland Valley Barn Owl project.  Otherwise you can just enjoy meeting a beautiful owl.

We hope to see you this week and, as ever, pop into the visitor centre if you have any questions.

Welcome Blog

Welcome to the first of many blogs from Grizedale.  We’ll use this blog to keep you up to date with what’s going on in the forest, to keep you informed about upcoming events and to offer an insight into the workings of your forest.  After all, Grizedale is a part of the Forestry Commission, an organisation which looks after your forests costing the average taxpayer less than 30 pence per year, not bad we think.

As you may or may not be aware, Grizedale is a unique place holding the title of ‘first forest for sculpture in the UK’ (keep your eye out for plenty of information about the sculpture program) as well as being a working, commercial forest.  We offer educational programmes for students of all ages from reception to A level and manage the forest for walkers and wildlife.  Go Ape describe their course at Grizedale as ‘the jewel in our crown’, we maintain mountain bike routes for riders of all abilities with all things bike (including hire) provide by Grizedale Mountain Bike shop and we host two rallies a year.  If you fancy something a little more relaxing there’s the café in the forest which will also being hosting an art exhibition this summer.  We’ll use these blogs to tell you why and how we manage the forest to provide you with all of these services.

Ultimately, Grizdedale Forest is your forest.  We use money from your taxes, the rent from on site businesses and the money generated from timber production across the Forestry Commission to provide you with the best forest we can.  That’s why we want to know what you like about the forest and how you think we could improve. 

This blog will be updated weekly but for even more information you can follow us on twitter, just search for @FCGrizedale.