Echo (commission for the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust)

This research investigates how the re-­‐presentation of landscape, through sculptural means, can highlight the visibility of the constancy of mutability within the natural world. It aims to use the materiality of a specific place, or locus (such as the Kensley Quarry’s exposed geological time line) to focus on objective comparison as a metaphor for the inevitability of vicissitude, and the lack of permanence in nature. This research references Rosalind Krauss’s ‘Expanded Field’ text, the empirical understanding of landscape, or locus, and the pictorial representation of nature. In 2008 Cattrell was selected by the Sculpture Trust to make a new permanent artwork for the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail. The FDST includes work by Ian Hamilton Findlay, Cornelia Parker, Keir Smith, Peter Randell Page, Bruce Allen, Neville Gabie (www.forestofdean-­‐sculpture.org.uk/ ). The Forest of Dean is on the English/Welsh border in Gloucestershire, and is a region which has its own distinct geology, culture, and community. Cattrell worked closely with geologists, archeologists, and historians to research into all aspects of the place. Using LIDAR and FARO 3D scanning techniques, in combination with analogue casting processes, Cattrell made ‘Echo’. This is a detailed double cast of the surface of the soil, tree roots, and 310 million year old pennant sandstone at Kensley Quarry. ‘Echo’ has a positive three-­‐dimensional impression on one side, and a negative one on the other. It is positioned within meters of the actual surface. Cast in aluminum dust and resin, the completed work resembles the quality of a desaturated silver-­‐gelatin pictorial photographic print. The permanent sculpture both visually, and physically, indexes the different timelines and physical qualities, of the ancient geological strata, which were originally formed near the equator at the Mediterranean part of the Super Pangaea, and the more recent living matter of the soil, plants, and trees. A catalogue was produced for the launch of ‘Echo’ with texts by Charles Darwent (Independent on Sunday), and Carolyn Black, Project Director of the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust. The project was featured twice (2008, 2012) on BBC1’s ‘Countryfile’, and has been included in a number of publications, such as the forthcoming book ‘Sculpture Parks & Trails of Britain & Ireland’, published by A & C Black (2013).