Common Ground and Public Art
In Spring 1987 we started work with Common Ground, the environmental arts charity. Even at this stage, 10 years into the National Development Programme, we would have been cautious about the collaboration if we felt anything distracted from our role of woodland acquisition. Two events changed this, the Great Storm and the receipt of a large legacy with unusual strings attached.
As part of “Trees, woods and the Green Man” we had agreed to host a sculptor in residence. This was our first foray into public art in woods (a movement started by the Forestry Commission in Grizedale in the 1970s) but following the Derek Miles legacy was not to be the last. The bequest was conditional on the Trust putting seats in its woods and as we didn’t want breach the informal nature of the woods Common Ground suggested commissioning sculptors to create individual seats or resting places. The initial programme was for four woods in eastern England, five in Wales and three in Scotland.
The idea involved generating substantial publicity for the Trust. The Trustees were always a little half-hearted in their support and with the high bank interest rate of the time the legacy was increasing faster than we were spending it they eventually ran out of patience. The programme eventually finished in 1993. The project was ground-breaking and in a book published in 1992 by the Crafts Council about applied art in public places, Jane Heath describes the Woodland Trust’s contribution as “One of the most worthwhile experiments in this vein by artists and craftspeople”.
The Great Storm gave a sense of relevance and urgency to woodland protection and Common Ground influenced our approach and acceptance of broader benefits such as cultural, physical and mental health issues and the production of timber products.