Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy, OBEis a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth26 July 1956
mother firsts snowball
The first snowball I froze was put in my mother's deep freeze when I was in my early 20s.
needs sometimes
Sometimes you need to stop doing something to really see it afresh.
simple artist ideas
A snowball is simple, direct and familiar to most of us. I use this simplicity as a container for feelings and ideas that function on many levels.
cities people done
People do not realise that many of my works are done in urban places. I was brought up on the edge of Leeds, five miles from the city centre-on one side were fields and on the other, the city.
animal way energy
Some of the snowballs have a kind of animal energy. Not just because of the materials inside them, but in the way that they appear caged, captured.
rain storm different
If you lay in the rain, every rain shower, storm, whatever, is different. Every surface is different.
night artist gone
Abandoning the project was incredibly stressful after having gone through the process of building the room, installing the kiln, collecting the stones, sitting with the kiln day and night as it came to temperature, experiencing the failures.
fire stones heat
Fire is the origin of stone.By working the stone with heat, I am returning it to its source.
beautiful balance collapse
When I make a work, I often take it to the very edge of its collapse, and that's a very beautiful balance.
finals knows objects
I just see myself as an object in the final image. I know I'm experiencing it when I'm there working on it. I'm there to be worked with, as anything else that I work with.
skins quality stronger
The hardened mass of liquid stones had much stronger qualities than those which had simply torn. The skin remained a recognisable part of the molten stone.
flames fire heat
I'm cautious about using fire. It can become theatrical. I am interested in the heat, not the flames.
purpose accepting projects
Confrontation is something that I accept as part of the project though not its purpose.
important different video
The main reason I went to digital was because I got time-lapse, video, and still images all in one camera. Having a minimal amount of gear is really important for someone who wants to walk around. That allowed me to have this flexibility to document things in different ways.