Bodger's Eulogy

This work is the combination of two physical forms:
1. Using the Windsor Chair as an archetypal form for learning traditional woodworking skills.
2. A piece of land art depicting the artists physical but temporary impact on their environment. The silhouette is made from sawdust and wood shavings that were collected throughout the production of the Windsor Chairs.

This work was my final university project and the start of my professional artistic career in land art. It is a tribute to all that has come before me and a culmination of everything I had learnt so far.
I was greatly inspired by artists such as David Nash, Richard Long and Antony Goldsworthy. Artwork with an ephemeral nature (that is so clear within Land Art) is more than it's temporary existence; it plays the part of one stepping stone .in time to the next. To create something free-range without the need for preservation is meta - its intention is to open up some internal dialogue for the audience.

The production of this work came through an idiosyncratic working method. Starting from the very beginning with sourcing and processing my own lumber... I used traditional hand skills wherever possible - learning directly from the tools of my late grandfather Ivor.

Ivor was the catalyst for this entire project.
Before his death in the early 00's he made a Windsor chair (made to measure) for each of the members in our family. I was the youngest grandchild and sadly he passed away before completing the last chair. All that remained in his workshop had been untouched in 20+ years, left to the mice, damp and woodworms.
I saw it as my legacy to not only complete the chair but to restore his tools and learn from them - having the conversations with my grandfather that were previously lost to time.