Andy Goldsworthy


Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.

Early life

The son of F. Allin Goldsworthy, former professor of applied mathematics at the University of Leeds. England, and Muriel Goldsworthy, Andy Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire, England in 1956. He grew up on the Harrogate side of Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. From the age of 13 he worked on farms as a labourer. He has likened the repetitive quality of farm tasks to the routine of making sculpture: "A lot of my work is like picking potatoes; you have to get into the rhythm of it."
Goldsworthy studied fine art at Bradford College of Art and at Preston Polytechnic in Preston, Lancashire, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from the latter.

Career

History

After leaving college, Goldsworthy lived in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. In 1985, he moved to Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and a year later to Penpont. It has been said that his gradual drift northwards was "due to a way of life over which he did not have complete control", but that contributing factors were opportunities and desires to work in these areas and "reasons of economy".
In 1993, he received an honorary degree from the University of Bradford. He was an A.D. White Professor-At-Large in Sculpture at Cornell University 2000–2006 and 2006–2008.
Goldsworthy is represented by Galerie Lelong, New York and Paris.

An example of art work

In 2003, Goldsworthy produced a commissioned work for the entry courtyard of San Francisco's de Young Museum called "Drawn Stone", which echoes San Francisco's frequent earthquakes and their effects. His installation included a giant crack in the pavement that broke off into smaller cracks, and broken limestone, which could be used for benches. The smaller cracks were made with a hammer adding unpredictability to the work as he created it.

Art process

The materials used in Andy Goldsworthy's art often include brightly coloured flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs, and thorns. He has been quoted as saying, "I think it's incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can't edit the materials I work with. My remit is to work with nature as a whole." Goldsworthy is generally considered the founder of modern rock balancing. For his ephemeral works, Goldsworthy often uses only his bare hands, teeth, and found tools to prepare and arrange the materials; however, for his permanent sculptures like "Roof", "Stone River" and "Three Cairns", "Moonlit Path" and "Chalk Stones" in the South Downs, near West Dean, West Sussex he has also employed the use of machine tools. To create "Roof", Goldsworthy worked with his assistant and five British dry-stone wallers, who were used to make sure the structure could withstand time and nature.

Photography

Photography plays a crucial role in his art due to its often ephemeral and transient state. According to Goldsworthy, "Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit."

Documentary films on Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is the subject of a 2001 documentary feature film called Rivers and Tides, directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer. In 2018, Riedelsheimer released a second documentary on Goldsworthy, Leaning Into the Wind.

Personal life

In 1982, Goldsworthy married Judith Gregson. They had four children and settled in the village of Penpont in the region of Dumfries and Galloway, Dumfriesshire, in southwest Scotland. The couple later separated. He now lives there with his partner, Tina Fiske, an art historian whom he met when she came to work with him a few years after he separated from his wife.

Awards

ImageDatesTitleLocation
1996–2003SheepfoldsCumbria, England, UK
1997Stone HouseHerring Island, Victoria, Australia
1997CairnHerring Island, Victoria, Australia
1998Hutton RoofNational Museum of Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
22 May –
15 November 2000		Andy Goldsworthy at Storm King Art Center

Storm King Art Center
Mountainville, Cornwall, New York, USA
August 2001Stone RiverCantor Arts Center, Stanford University
Stanford, California, USA
2002Andy Goldsworthy Arch at GoodwoodCass Sculpture Foundation
Goodwood, West Sussex, England, UK
2002 Chalk Stones TrailSouth Downs near West Dean, West Sussex
4 May –
31 October 2004		Andy Goldsworthy on the Roof

Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden
New York City, USA
2005Andy Goldsworthy: Early Works

A national touring exhibition from the Haywood Gallery		England, United Kingdom
2005Drawn StoneM. H. de Young Memorial Museum
San Francisco
2005ArchesGibbs Farm, New Zealand
22 January –
15 May 2005		The Andy Goldsworthy Project

National Gallery of Art
National Mall, Washington, D.C., USA
2006Red sandstone wall at the Doerr-Hosier CenterAspen Institute
Aspen, Colorado, USA
31 March 2007 –
6 January 2008		Andy GoldsworthyYorkshire Sculpture Park
West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, UK
October 2008SpirePark Presidio
San Francisco
June 2009Provence art trailProvence
France
2010-11Wood LinePark Presidio
San Francisco
7 September 2012 –
2 November 2012		Domo de Argila / Clay DomeCais do Porto
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2013Earth WallPark Presidio
San Francisco
2014Tree FallPark Presidio
San Francisco

Publications

Articles:
Books:
Film/Documentary