Taylor Aufill

2D Art
7 March 2017

Andy Goldsworthy

​ ndy Goldsworthy is a unique British artist recognized for his vivid and
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carefully crafted sculptures found in nature. Often recognized as an “environmental
sculptor,” Goldsworthy uses a wide variety of strictly found materials in nature, inclusive
of items anywhere from leaves, rocks, ice, stones, etc.
​As he explains it, “I enjoy the freedoms of just using my hands and “found” tools—a
sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns... I take the opportunities each day offers: if it
is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall, it will be leaves; a blown- over tree becomes a
source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that
there is something to be discovered. Here is what I can learn,” (morning-earth.org). It’s
fascinating how much of a love Goldsworthy appears to have for the kind of work he
chooses to create and how he has such a careful crafting intention, as well as an
apparent love and appreciation for the things that nature has to offer. There is such
beauty behind the idea that Goldsworthy feels the need to be in direct contact with
nature and his materials.
Because these sculptures are made with real, natural objects, elements such as
time, the weather, and the changing of the seasons will have an impact and begin to
wear and tear on the work. To preserve the beauty in the moment in which Goldsworthy
creates the work, he makes sure to photograph the work the second it is completed.
Although time will melt the ice, change the color of the leaves and stones, etc., the
photographs that Andy captures will last forever. Goldsworthy states that, “It’s not about
art. It’s just about life and the need to understand that a lot of things in life do not last, “
and “When I make an ephemeral work, when it’s finished, that’s the moment that it
ends, in a way,” (NPR). It’s so easy to admire the fact that Goldsworthy chooses to put
forth so much effort for something that hardly lasts a significant amount of time. This
idea only furthers the beauty behind what exactly it is that Goldsworthy does and his
creative process behind it. ​“When I’m working with materials, it’s not just the leaf or the
stone, it’s the processes that are behind them that are important. That’s what I’m trying
to understand, not a single isolated object but nature as a whole,” (Goldsworthy -
wsws.org).
http://visualmelt.com/Andy-Goldsworthy
http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Goldsworthy.html
http://www.artnet.com/artists/andy-goldsworthy/
http://www.npr.org/2015/10/08/446731282/sculptor-turns-rain-ice-and-trees-into-
ephemeral-works
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2003/05/gold-m30.html
http://www.npr.org/2015/10/08/446731282/sculptor-turns-rain-ice-and-trees-into-
ephemeral-works