Walking. A natural progression in the development of a person. From the day a baby begins to walk, it becomes a fundamental activity that he does for the rest of his life. Walking is a universal movement that we do not consciously think about in order to do it. Walking a line is probably the easiest thing a human being can do to mark his place, to have his footsteps imprinted on the land.
Richard Long, a British contemporary artist, engages with the world by walking, and interacts with natural materials and sometimes, the forces of nature. To Long, “walking provides the means of exposing oneself to new, changing perceptions and experiences and of acquiring an expanded awareness of our surroundings.” This affinity that he shares with nature stems from his childhood. In a conversation with Denise Hooker, a writer and art historian, Richard Long shared that he “used to go hitch-hiking with (his) dad and on cycling and youth-hostelling holidays with him as a boy” and that his father, who was a teacher, “(shared) his love of nature and walking in the local places with (him) and his schoolchildren.”
Born in Bristol, England on 2 June 1945, Richard Long studied at the West of England College of art, Bristol, from 1962 to 1965, and at St. Martin’s School of Art, London, from 1966 to 1968. In 1964, Long was already making Land Art and exploring the idea of impermanence, and started to use walking as an art form in 1967. He rose to prominence in the late 1960s and was among a generation of British artists who extended sculpture beyond the confines of traditional materials. As cited on Long’s website:
In the nature of things:
Art about mobility, lightness and freedom.
Simple creative acts of walking and marking
about place, locali...
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...thods in landscape art as what he does is habitual, I appreciate his dedication or obsession in walking, his interaction with elements from the globe and how he has found his place in doing so.
Works Cited
Long, R. , Moorhouse, P. & Hooker, D. (2005). Walking the Line. Great Britain: Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.
Long, R. Richard Long. Retrieved from http://www.richardlong.org/.
Kirkpatrick, C. (1994). Richard Long: No Where, Interview – Piers Arts Centre, Orkney. Retrieved from http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/articles/record.html?record=293.
Dexter, E. (1991). Richard Long: Tate Gallery, London - Sculpture, p. 67 . Retrieved from http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/articles/record.html?record=61.
Tate, Artists Room: Richard Long. Retrieved on 10 November 2011 from http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/artistrooms/artist.do?id=1525.
· 1999: Private commissions (2). Continues to work on paintings for traveling exhibition, Visual Poems of Human Experience (The Company of Art, Chronology 1999).
Her work resembles fossils and botanical illustration pages at the same time. Her simplicity and willingness to give back to her community is also an attribute I admire of her. Her work is important because of it has been used a medium to convey precious memories through the preservation of flowers. This artist inspires me because of her mastery of such a simple technique to create beautifully simplistic, yet intricately detailed works. This is an aesthetic I hope to achieve in my personal work because of my love of detail and organic shapes, such as flowers. It is amazing how she has achieved such wonderfully detailed and organic shapes using a medium that I never thought to be used in such an organic
Walking in modern society is seen as a tool to get from one place to another. However, philosophers explore the idea that walking can be much more than just a means of transportation. Walking is a catalyst for the brain it helps increase brain function subsequently forming more articulate thoughts. I’ve noticed that the surroundings in which you choose to saunter play a big role in your thought process as well. Walking home on the streets of Berkeley compared to hiking through the mountains of Tahoe, I noticed a difference in my thought process. While in the mountains I felt much more relaxed and mentally clear, compared to when I was walking to my house I felt stressed and in a rush to get home. This idea is supported by the works of Rebecca
With works in every known medium, from every part of the world, throughout all points in history, exploring the vast collection of the Museum of Modern Art was an overwhelming experience. The objects in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts are an important historical collection, reflecting the development of a number of art forms in Western Europe. The department's holdings covered sculpture in many sizes, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, jewelry, and tapestries. The gallery attracted my appreciation of the realistic qualities of the human body often portrayed in sculpture.
---. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.. Ed. Chester G. Anderson. New York: Viking Penguin, 1977.
Faggin, Giorgio T and Hughes, Robert. The Complete Paintings of the Van Eycks. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1976. Print.
Eck, Susan. "The Sculpture Plan by Karl Bitter, Director of Sculpture." Pan American Exposition: Buffalo 1901. (http://panam1901.bfn.org/documents/sculptureplan.html).
Daniel also provides extensive imagery during this paragraph to help the reader visualize themselves and build curiosity, leaving the reader wondering what they would see and feel if they were also to climb that rock face. Overall, the paragraph contributes a powerful personal experience to Daniel’s argument to experience nature actively.
Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. N.p., 2014. Print.
"Everyone is influenced by their childhood. The things I write about and illustrate come from a vast range of inputs, from the earliest impressions of a little child, others from things I saw yesterday and still others from completely out of the blue, though no doubt they owe their arrival to some stimulus, albeit unconscious. I have a great love of wildlife, inherited from my parents, which show through in my subject matter, though always with a view to the humorous—not as a reflective device but as a reflection of my own fairly happy nature.
edited by B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin, pp. 24-28. © 1995 New York: Routledge
So I attempted to use this mentality whilst exploring the Highline, allowed the mindset to fill me with energy and then reflected on what I liked and didn’t like about the limitless attitude once I walked back towards Gansevoort Street. When I saw Kathryn Andrews’ “Sunbathers II” piece, I went inside the piece, and smiled while my cousin took a photo of me. I then continued to roamed through Chelsea while observing the people, billboards, paintings and the skyline, and was struck by the Sleepwalker sculpture. When Zadie Smith comes face-to-face with Corona’s “Find Your Beach” advertisement, she begins to analyze and find possible interpretations of the billboard sign. I then began to examine the Sleepwalker sculpture and discussed several potential inferences towards Manhattan the artwork might have with my cousin Michelle. I then got some stracciatella gelato, and Michelle got a coffee. With my recent purchases in hand, I was taken surprise by Andrews’ “Sunbathers I”. Michelle and I laughed
The central role of walking in Wordsworth's life suggests a number of interesting questions, but I will focus here only on those related to the theme of this conference, work and leisure. Obviously, much of Wordsworth's walking could be classed as leisure-time activity. There was probably no compelling reason for Wordsworth and Dorothy to walk twice to the Black Swan or for Wordsworth and Mary to circumambulate the lakes.
This marked the beginning of his inspiration to form a personal, expressive, and religious stance on his art values and style. He has found his process and content that will be apparent in his future work.
Stone, W. F. (1897). Questions on the philosophy of art;. London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons.