Trees, Woods and the Green Man

Country Seats

Country Seats was a Common Ground / Woodland Trust project to encourage the creation of unique and original seats, made in response to place, which help widen our appreciation of the value of trees and woods.

In discussion with the Woodland Trust about our project Trees, Woods & the Green Man, it came to light that the Trust had been left a legacy specifically for the purchase and placing of seats. Concerned not to 'urbanise' their woodland, the Trust was contemplating the return of the gift. Our reaction was immediate, why not commission sculptors and craftspeople to make seats of and for a particular wood, capturing and enhancing the spirit of the place. In addition why not link with regional art associations seeking their administrative, financial and artistic help, introducing two groups who might otherwise never have found any common ground. Our task was not simply the introduction, but simultaneous translation and language tuition, asking difficult questions of both, constantly reiterating questions about place.

For the Woodland Trust there was much to gain, a doubling of their money from the regional arts associations, an introduction to a new world; for Eastern Arts and South East Arts, a collaboration with a landholder with money who could host a visual arts experiment; for Common Ground a chance to show by example that there are many ways to look at wood and woodland for artists and conservationists, and to draw new people to open access to woodland and towards caring for it.

Seats are interesting manifestations: they have their own presence and can form a powerful visual or symbolic focus acting as meeting place or hide. Whatever their personality and intention, having savoured their essence, the sensible thing of course is to sit on them, whereupon their presence melts away and the woodland envelops your thoughts.

Five sculptors, were commissioned to work in Woodland Trust woods during 1987-8: Jim Partridge (Ashenbank Wood, Gravesend, Kent); Michael Fairfax (Kiln Wood, Sussex); Mary-Jane Opie (Wormley Wood, Herts); Mick Petts, (Tyrrel's Wood, Norfolk) and Doug Cocker.