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If you feel strongly about the Chiltern Sculpture Trail, and would like to help it continue, please let your feelings be known to the Arts Council via this form on their web site.

It's the intention of the Chiltern Sculpture Trust to keep the Trail going as long as possible, and more information will be posted here when it's available. Having been an important artistic resource for the area since 1990, it'll be a huge shame if it has to be closed and the works removed.

It is useful to send proposals that have a strong visual element, some evidence of previous arts activity/experience, and a clear and concise written proposal including information that is relevant to the siting of works in this type of outdoor environment. Attention to the financial and practical aspects of realising a commission in a woodland site away from shelter and mains services is also useful. If posting material, please enclose a SAE for anything you wish to be returned to you.

ii) New commission by Rosemary McGoldrick.
This artist will be installing her commission related to the Red Kite activity at the Trail, during March/April '06. This will be one of our main commissions this year, and will consist of stainless steel viewer for selected images relating to the famous and thriving local Red Kite population. This work will be interactive, and visitor-powered, based on the principal of a 'what the butler saw' type mechanism.

iii) New commission by Colin Tilley.
This temporary project was funded by Oxford County Council, as part of their 'Re-think Rubbish' campaign, to highlight the problem of illegal fly tipping and general littering at the site, and as part of a county-wide programme. Dumped rubbish and vehicles are a part of our cultural experience of landscape, however much we may not like to acknowledge this. Colin has drawn attention to this issue by installing a burnt out van at the site, which on closer inspection invites us to ask important questions about issues related to re-cycling, rubbish dumping, pollution, and the reality of contemporary urbanised landscape.
One may ask questions like 'Why here? There is rubbish and dumped vehicles all over the place, so we do we have to have them in this beautiful woodland as well?' you may also question whether this constitutes 'art' at all. One response to this could be, yes, this is terrible, it's not a lovely thing to have on a sculpture trail, but it is one way of drawing attention to the very real problems presented by our wasteful, consumer culture. Colin may be employing shock tactics here, but if it raises awareness about the issues it alludes to, then perhaps it is worth 'spoiling' the view for a while?

iv) New commission by Jacqueline Pearce.
Jacqueline has installed a temporary work at the Trail, consisting of a wedding dress and veil. Caught up in the gloomy lower branches of a pair of conifers, the viewer can muse on the sequence of events which led to it's ghostly presence in the forest. The artist will be documenting the deterioration of the work over the winter months.

The event will include:
Guided tours of the sculpture trail
Artist talks
Schools and public workshops
New commissions
Refreshments

We hope you can attend.

We have also asked artist Jo Stockham to undertake a research and development commission in the early part of the year, at this early stage of her project she will be looking at the links between nature and our representations of the natural, taking into account the history and geology of the area around the Trail itself. Jo's interests lie mainly in the areas of human separation from, and representations of nature. Her research will include site visits, meetings within Oxford University science departments, photographic, drawn and written records, and some educational activity.

As and when available, we will be including images and text relating to all the projects listed above on this site.

Wednesday 2nd & 9th June - Create a living wooden chair with Phoebe Shaft.
Artist Phoebe Shaft will be working with members of Restore workshops (Oxford) to create a living hazel-wood chair sculpture. Using traditional coppicing techniques, and anything else useful which comes to hand, Phoebe and the Restore team will be creating this chair sculpture for inclusion in the collection of the sculptures at the Trail. The idea is that the chair will grow, evolve and change as the living tree grows. FULLY BOOKED.

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th June - 9.30am to 5.30pm - Chairs in the Air with Phoebe Shaft.
Over two days, create a greenwood chair/chair sculpture with local artist and furniture maker Phoebe Shaft. Using basic woodworking techniques and a range of green woodworking tools, you will have the opportunity to produce an original and exciting structure which will be temporarily displayed in the trees at the sculpture Trail. This workshop is suitable for adults.

Friday 18th to Sunday 20th June - 9.30am to 5.30pm - Participate in creating a new sculpture for the Trail with Stuart Turner.
Local environmental artist Stuart Turner is making a new work that utilise traditional green crafts techniques such as hedgelaying and coppicing to create an exciting new commission. Learn traditional skills and participate in making a new public commission for the Trail. Suitable for adults.

Friday 7th to Sunday 9th July - 9.30am to 5.30pm - Sculpture portraits with Christine Wilkinson & Alan Daniel.
Christine & Alan will be leading a workshop that will look at creating sculptural, life-size portraits that will then be shown temporarily at the Trail. We especially invite local people, educational groups and families with children to take part. See yourself and your friends on show at the Trail! Children must be supervised by accompanying adults.

Saturday 7th August - 9.30am to 5.30pm - What are you aware of right now? with Ally Stott.
Simple practices that cultivate awareness of what is happening within and around us are the starting point for this one day workshop. With guidance you are invited to open to and note your direct experience of being in the woods through applying mindful attention to your sense experience; seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. The afternoon will be spent creating a collaborative banner from collage materials that will temporarily hang in the canopy of the trees and will depict your responses to the morning's activities. Ally is an artist who works with mindfulness and other creative practices.