Gallery | Sarah Cook

Sarah

Cook

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"Reflection” text

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Honouring 1

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Offering

Evolving

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The Woods For The Future project was an extension of The Meaning of Trees installation, in a new collaboration with National Trust Longshaw Estate in the Peak District.

From Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th October 2019, Sarah’s bronze sculpture, a cloak of over 100 oak leaves, was displayed at Longshaw Estate next to the welcome building in the main Woodcroft car park. The art work was inspired by the artist’s walks in Padley Gorge within Longshaw Estate.
Motivated by her love of native trees and her commitment to combating the effects of climate change, Sarah donated her work to the Peak District Appeal to help the National Trust to create woods for the future. Visitors were invited to choose one of the unique leaves and donate to the tree nursery and planting project. Many people attended the talks by the rangers, national tree expert, and the artist. It was a lively event with enthusiastic discussions about how tree planting contributes to conservation and climate action. The event demonstrated how art can draw people into these important issues. Over the weekend £1,700 was raised for the Woods For The Future project.

Sarah said: “With my concern about the local ecology and my commitment to reforestation, I wanted the cloak of bronze leaves to give something back to the environment. Trees shed their rotting leaves to make rich leaf litter that then nourishes the new tree shoots and saplings. By asking for donations to Longshaw Tree Nursery and the woodland projects this cycle of regeneration is being mirrored and people are investing in the future. Hopefully people will take the bronze oak leaves and spread them near and far. This reflects how falling leaves and seeds are carried by the wind to be dispersed to new places and support new growth.”

The National Trust Visitor Experience Officer said “This art and ecology project brings together people who are passionate about planting new woods for the future in the Peak District. We urgently need to meet the challenges of climate change, maintain and create new areas of healthy, resilient and diverse woodland, encourage biodiversity, replant areas affected by ash dieback, and reduce the risk of flooding.”

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The aim of the Meaning of Trees project was to engage people in a conversation about what trees and the landscape mean for them. This is at a time of local and global concerns about deforestation and loss of natural habitats.

With this sculptural installation the artist portrayed some of her deeply felt responses to being amongst trees, whilst inviting others to interpret the art and the trees in their own ways. People were invited to record their thoughts on video, contribute to social media responses and take photographs and selfies.

For the artist this work arose from several preoccupations. One was a fascination with autumn leaves as they fell in layers on the forest floor, each one unique in form but sharing a pattern. Sarah began to cast oak leaves in bronze, a long-lasting material that fixed the decaying leaves in time. Daily walks through the local woods triggered in the artist images of bronze age peoples that lived in the Peak District, from around 2,500 BC. These were settled communities that worked metal for tools, ornaments and weapons.

The artist imagined our ancestors celebrating their festivals, with women wearing bronze torques (torcs), a mark of high status and power. As there are no local examples of torques, the artist decided to create a composite design inspired by various museums across Europe.

Another interest was the study of the many misshapen oak trees in Padley Gorge that looked like dancing figures with outstretched arms. These stunted and twisted trees were due to coppicing over successive centuries to supply wood for many purposes and more recently to produce charcoal for the iron and lead industries.

The art work links to previous times with reminders of the past which include the portrayal of what is not there and who is left behind. The cloak is therefore left empty of the ancestor who wore it but standing proudly over the central stone pillar, as if in a ceremony. The cloak is made of 100 bronze oak tree leaves, attached to a torque by bronze rods.

The final aspect that this art work alludes to is the symbolic, mythological and spiritual meanings of oak trees in European culture. Oaks have been seen as symbols of strength, longevity and the power of nature. These are potent forces within this era of environmental chaos.

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Photo: Eleni Chambers

Photo: Eleni Chambers

Photo: Sarah Lister

Photo: Tracy Litterick

Photo: Tracy Litterick

Photo: Sarah Dadswell

Photo: Tracy Litterick

Photo: Tracy Litterick

Photo: Sarah Lister

Photo: Tracy Litterick

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This work marked the centenary of the Representation of the People Act that gave women the vote after decades of struggle. It explores complex issues about women being silenced, about the female voice, about fear of that voice, particularly in the context of today’s misogyny and harassment scandals.

Dialogue with the work invited exploration of what is real, how we know and who is trusted. Placing this work in familiar places provoked response and interpretation, communicating through gesture, body language and identity.

Passers-by have been keen to stop, look, and comment, questioning whether she was real and what she was saying. People recounted tales of women’s struggles from their family histories. By inviting the public to engage we are encouraged to think about our own stories.

Visible Woman was exhibited in the Millenium Gallery, Bloc Projects Gallery, Owen Building Atrium (Sheffield Hallam University) and in the foyer of the Diamond Building (university of Sheffield). She was taken on location to Longshaw Estate in the Peak District (National Trust) and to the Moor Market, outside the Old Post Office and at the entrance to the Railway Station in Sheffield.

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Fallen leaves (2018)

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This project explored older women’s experiences as we move and dance through the deterioration and increasing limitation of our bodies. I had been focussing on cycles of life, particularly the last stage of the human lifecycle and linking this to the lifecycle of trees. I had reached my 60’s which has been celebrated as the ‘hag’ stage in women’s lives. Interestingly for trees the final stage in their lifecycle is called ‘snag’.

Approximately 80% of a mature tree consists of layers of dead material. Decay is about metamorphosis and transformation, which is neither good or bad but just change. We all deteriorate, we are all aging. Culturally we have been used to seeing ageing as an entirely negative thing, but these views don’t necessarily reflect the experiences of people who are ageing. In a lot of ways ageing is a wonderful experience.

The setting for this work was woodland environments. I used natural materials, selecting tree parts that are beginning to disintegrate, in their natural cycle of degeneration. There is something beautiful about rotting materials.

These art works started as test pieces, sketches or maquettes. This is how I develop my ideas through my hands. I have also traced my own body in the handprint of making these pieces. When displaying these works I like to invite people to use their hands, to pick up and feel these pieces.

I photographed and filmed these sculptures disintegrating further in rain and wind and collapsing into the woodland stream at Padley Gorge in the Peak District.

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Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

Portraits & Figures (2010-2015)

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© 2019 by Sarah Cook | Peak District Artist

sarahpcook66@gmail.com