Whilst researching poems that might work well as artwork along the path of a woodland walk I came across the poem above. I thought this idea of poetry having branches that reached out across the land was really nice. I had already played around with the idea of creating artwork using a line of a poem - and then hanging it between trees. For last year's Cowslip Sunday, as part of art installation along a secluded woodland path, I produced a piece of artwork in the form of laser cut artboard surrounded by hand-cut leaves.
Before installing this work I had attempted to seek the permission of the farmer who the land belonged to – and was assured by an individual that it wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately it transpired that the farmer was in a dispute with his neighbour and he (bizarrely) assumed that the artwork was an attempt at a wind-up on behalf of his neighbour and subsequently took the work down. After I had the opportunity to explain the situation he was quite contrite – to the extent that he offered to be involved in the installation of the work this year.
So building on this piece from last year's event - and taking this idea of the 'poet tree' it was a natural progression that this new artwork should take the form of stylised tree 'branches'. The 'poet tree' made the idea of poetry being displayed in woods seem entirely natural.
Provisionally I am working on using two lines from the Shel Silverstein poem, to make two different branches - and then having these hanging between two trees that lend themselves to the piece.
The location I have in mind (assuming I can get permission from the landowner - which I'm guessing might require a financial outlay) would mean producing a piece of artwork of a reasonable size - perhaps 20 feet across. But I think the size of the work might add to it's impact.
I'm quite excited about the potential for this 'poet tree' idea. It may very well be a project that could be extended - perhaps with the involvement of an organisation like The Woodland Trust - to install work in woods the length and breadth of the country, using poems selected by the public: The branches of the poet tree reach from the mountains to the sea.
