Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time

Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time

Directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer

An extraordinarily spiritually literate documentary about one of the world's greatest nature artists.

Andy Goldsworthy is an artist of nature. He creates sculpture from materials he finds outside, such as driftwood, stones or flowers. His work is amazing. Before the tide comes in, along a river bed, as it rains, or even as the seasons change, Andy’s work changes as nature takes its course, and he alters the look of each of his artistic pieces. He always takes photos to show how his work evolves. You will watch as a leaf snake travels down a river, the tide overtakes a cone-shaped statue he makes out of stones, the sun changes the look of his art on land, and like a river, the wall of stone he creates weaves in and out around the trees. Goldsworthy also describes his thoughts and reasons for the art.

The film also looks into life and family of this creative man and how he uses the materials around him in the process of creating his art. You’ll be drawn in to the fascination of one man’s imagination as it comes to life and then changes direction, as well as the thought process he goes through regarding his art and the peace he finds in his solitude when he works.

The wall at Storm King

The wall at Storm King is a 2778 feet stone sculpture in the New England region of America. It has been erected over a decimated wall that stood on the abandoned farmlands that once existed in the region. Although being built to last, it is made using no adhesive material, instead chipping the stones in order pile them. The meandering wall is 42 chains long according to the old British system which matches Goldsworthy’s age at the time. The materials used were select stones, pickaxes and the effort put in by a few stone wallers working on Andy’s instructions. The mediums used to hold the material together are the qualities of the stone such as weight, solidity and malleability.  It takes the form of a river, meandering at various points to mimic its flow. The content of the sculpture is the entire wall in itself, a river of stone. The subject matter would then be Andy’s perception of rivers, the embodiment of change to him, even in static form. An analysis from the Neo-formalist perspective would best classify it as art since it displays a satisfying relationship between the content, fluidity and the form of the river, associated even when in static form. 

Sheep’s wool on a dry stone wall

The name ‘Sheep’s wool on a dry stone wall’ essentially describes the nature of the artwork itself. Goldsworthy took unprocessed wool from local sheep and laid it over an uneven dry stone wall to create this piece. Dry stone walls and sheep have been closely associated in social heuristics for centuries, the walls being made in order to contain domesticated sheep within particular boundaries. As a result of both the sheep’s trampling and its relish for ground level fauna, no major forests develop in areas inhabited by them, especially the traditional domestic grasslands. This is what Andy Goldsworthy fed off, portraying the sheep’s dominance over its surrounding despite being such seemingly humble creatures. If dissected, the materials applied would be existing dry stone walls, sheep’s wool. The mediums used to form it would be the solidity of the stone wall and the course rigidity of the wool which held it in place. It takes the form of a river made up of wool, the unevenness of the wall acting as the meanders of the river. The content of the piece is the flow of life over the land, symbolised by sheep’s wool and stone. Therefore, the two components would be the river of sheep and the mountain/wall of stone. The subject matter would again be Goldsworthy’s perception of rivers and their co-relation to life as a whole. The Representation theory of art would best classify this piece as art in my opinion since both the stone and the wool stand in as symbols of life and land respectively.

Unnamed wooden eddy

Andy Goldsworthy metaphorically feeds off his observations in nature, drawing inspiration from forms in movement. In this unnamed whirlpool, he displays the culmination of his perceptions of the whirls formed in the water of a river. This river in Canada flows along a rocky route which often causes small whirls known as ‘eddys’, due to stone obstacles in its path. Goldsworthy piled together wodden twigs from trees nearby to create a large, hollow dome shaped eddy, captured in time. It does not remain static however, and is designed to mimic the movement of the eddys when the high tide sets it afloat. As it disintegrates, it joins the eddy’s of the river in a flow of circular movement. The material used in this case would be select twigs, broken into to defined size. The medium would be the buoyant quality of the wood and the flowing quality of water. Its takes the form of a dome shaped whirl made up of straight lines piled and angled accordingly. The content would be the entire piece in itself and the subject matter would be the effect of the obstacles on something as fluid as water, hence adhering once again to Andy’s perception of rivers and tides. Since it displays both significant form and intent, this piece may be labelled art by the Formalist theory of art. 

Just as Goldsworthy sculpts nature, Fred Firth, the music composer who worked on the documentary sculpts silence to meander and change with the artworks at opportune times, adding a fluidity to something digital.

I find his ephemeral projects the most satisfying.  For instance, Goldsworthy makes a chain of leaves held together with thorns.  He then places it in the stream and watches it.  As the chain flows down the river, it threads itself through rocks and riffles, when it moves through a pool it begins to spirals; ultimately it becomes a visible line we can read, a register for the forces in the water.  In another project, he collects red rocks from the bottom of the stream and grinds them up into a fine powder.  Placing the powder in the small neighboring pockets of stone creates shocking blood-red pools.  A simple action, yet he draws many parallels between rock and life, the cycle of stone from sediment to rock and back.  He exposes what was there but unseen.

Overall the film is slow paced but with excellent visuals and music by Fred Frith it’s a pleasure to watch.  Here are a few screen captures I grabbed of the film.