EXERCISE 2.5 – Text in Art

In a similar manner to Richard Long’s ‘textworks’ (see http://www.richardlong.org), write down 12 – 24 brief observations during a short walk or journey by some means of transport. This may be the journey you intend to make for Assignment Two, or it ma be a different one. You don’t need to take any photographs.

Consider how you might present your observations. For some more inspiration on text-based artwork, see:
Ed Ruscha: www.edruscha.com
Barbara Kruger: www.barbarakruger.com
Mark Titchner: www.marktitchnerstudio.com
This exercise is designed to help you think about text as an alternative or additional
means of expression, and to provide an opportunity to experiment with presenting
text creatively.

This was a short walk I took from the car park on my way to what was promising to be a difficult meeting.

I live in the historic market town of Alnwick in Northumberland where the Alnwick Castle features large. It is a major tourist attraction having been the venue for the Harry Potter films. Directly in front of the castle is a car park with a line of mature trees between them.

On this day I parked my car and saw that there was major felling of all the trees revealing the castle sitting on high ground in all it’s glory.

The Duke of Northumberland owns many acres of land in the county and is clearing much of it for development and this latest activity made me see red. It is being done in the name of tree management but the trees seemed to be very healthy and there was no reason to cut them down to my mind, especially in the current situation of global warming and climate change.

I have used the work of Barbara Kruger to inspire me for a previous Assignment 5 in Context & Narrative, “Save Windy Edge Fields” https://wordpress.com/view/lyndawsite.wordpress.com.

Like the work for Assignment 5, this is an emotional piece of work. For this exercise I have used the style of Richard Long.

References:

Long R. www.richardlong.org webpage. (accessed 17.1.2020)

Barbara Kruger: www.barbarakruger.com webpage. (accessed 17.1.2020)

Mark Titchner: www.marktitchnerstudio.com webpage. (accessed 17.1.2020)

Ed Ruscha: www.edruscha.com webpage. (accessed 17.1.2020)

Lynda Wearn, Context & Narrative (wordpress blog) https://wordpress.com/view/lyndawsite.wordpress.com (accessed 17.1.2020)