Andy Goldsworthy and how he inspired me

Andy Goldsworthy is an artist who uses natural materials such as twigs, leaves, stone, snow, etc, to create sculptures and installations which he then photographs. Some pieces of his work are meant to only last a short while, whilst others are there for the long term; for his short term works he often only uses his bare hands, teeth, and tools he finds to prepare and arrange the materials.

Goldsworthy says: "Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit." This therefore makes photography an important part of his artwork as it captures each piece in the stages of its life cycle. The cycles of nature could also be represented in his work as some common patterns are circles, spirals and curves, and these shapes have been influential in my own photos in his style. 

I have used his work to inspire me in the earth section of my research and have made some sculptures and installations on my own using natural materials of which I then photographed. 

Goldsworthy's ice sculpture

Patterns in sand inspired by ice sculpture

Goldsworthy's spiral stone installation

Spiral of shells

Above are a couple of examples of where Andy Goldsworthy's work inspired my own photography of natural objects. As well as these I also used some of my own original ideas, such as using a pine cone and rose petals, as can be seen in the image below.

Pine cone and rose petals