Thursday 1 November 2007

Cass Sculpture Foundation open air park




The Cass Sculpture Foundation open air sculpture park featured on the Culture Show on Saturday night when it was shown from the air. There are so many amazing sculptures in this park in Goodwood and they are so beautifully displayed that it is difficult to choose a few to illustrate this blog. The first thing you see when you arrive are Wendy Ramshaw’s magnificent gates which part across the centre for you to enter. Then on your left the simple, but very effective, Loop by Ellis O’Connell.

Other favourites of mine were Thomas Heatherwick’s Pavilion (I am a great fan of his and particularly like his bridge at Paddington) and Confessional by Cathy de Monchaux.



Julian Wild’s System No. 19 appealed to me because of its lace-like qualities. On a more monumental scale I found Jon Isherwood’s Passages, origins and circumstances very interesting and I also admired how Stephen Cox had set out Catamarans on a granite wave. The study centre contained models of many of the sculptures in the park. While outside the centre was this amazing water feature that filled and emptied and refracted the images of the trees behind it.




The sculptures are all placed so that they can be admired individually and can be seen from different viewpoints and glimpsed through different avenues of trees. They are cleverly sited so that each one appears on its own and can be appreciated by walking around it but clever juxtapositions of views enhance the viewer’s experience.

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