The Great Outdoors...

Took my six year old to the early evening preview for the Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail at the River Waveney Study Centre at Earsham last week.
It's on until 6th September - 10am - 4pm - Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and the Bank Holiday Monday.
I thought my little lad would be bored quite quickly; hankering to get home and eat his salmon sandwiches on the way in the car.....but I couldn't have been wronger!
He LOVED it..
He had the map and all the numbered sculptures on the trail to find, "like a giant treasure hunt" he said.

I had forgotten to take my camera - but the young fella had brought his - so you may have to excuse the quality of a few images (only because the camera is not great, not because the small photographer is not great)

Umbrella pieces in the courtyard by Sophie Giller:




Mike Dodd's strong crossing sticks spiral was very in-keeping with the landscape, and serendipitously it turns out, half in the shallow black water and half in the mud (fully in water when Mike installed it apparently). It's positioning gave it an ancient emerging henge sort of feel:


The location is seductively inspiring with swathes of scrumptious wild floweriness. 
You are taken in and out of darkness and light, through and under trees, around ponds and lakes, as mown paths direct you to new secrets including a maze in the reeds. 



We traced out the map and discovered a massive variety of art pieces - some with buttons to press that made birds sing or switched on lights - imagine - the interaction - great excitement for a small one. 

These spheres can be 'gently rolled' as the label explained so My boy was enjoying doing just that. He lined them up nicely for this photo:


As ever Liz McGowan constructed a commanding image - 'Reflection' - with reeds (from the maze?) working with natural materials like Mike Dodd did:


There seemed to be quite a few circles or spirals in the trail providing a continuity spanning the site.

This piece by Patrick Elder places a circular mirror and a circle cut-out - so we had a reflected image and a framed image - focussing us on the landscape, rendering the piece itself seemingly invisible:


Next we were on safari - finding African creatures by Rachael Long and crocheted growths by Kally Davidson - strangely simultaneously alien yet familiar :



Very tired small person DID eat his salmon sandwiches in the car then nearly fell asleep - happy that we had, as the sun was dipping, found N and M at last

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