"Like Nimrod's Tower the Tree Stretches Skyward"

Keir Smith an archival exhibition

9 April - 31 August 2011

This exhibition is the first to draw on a collection of archival material held by the Forestry Commission at Grizedale, and explores the incidental encounters Keir Smith experienced during the time he spent in the forest during two residencies and the influence this special place had on his later practice. In a text reflecting on the forest, he wrote: “So you see in this place no man really dies. Death is merely a translation into a different kind of growth.”

The exhibition will include Running from Eden, a sister work to Last Rays of and English Rose originally developed in 1986/87 and installed at Grizedale on the Silurian Way in 2009. A further 18 never before exhibited wall-mounted pieces, including watercolours in homage to Paul Nash, rust iron filing drawings; a technique developed by Keir, as well design lead ink drawings, made as project drawings to the development of later sculptures will be on show.

---