Portland (2). Tout Sculpture Park and Nature Reserve

Tout Quarry produced stone commercially from around 1750 until the 1930’s.  The disused quarry was ‘reincarnated’ in 1983 as a sculpture park using mainly local materials.  It established a regular programme of artist residencies (the first was Anthony Gormley) together with stone carving and sculpture courses.

The site covers 40 acres  and more than 70 exhibits (some complete, others work in progress) are integrated into the natural environment.

Tout Quarry is also a nature reserve attracting an extensive  range of wild flowers, plants, moths and butterflies.

 

Out of Africa 2

This photograph is a detail of a Zimbabwean sculpture.  The piece has been in my possession for  many years and ,unfortunately, I don’t have the name of the sculptor.

What can I see?

In The Little Book of Contemplative Photography, the author, Howard Zehr, suggests an exercise that I find very helpful, especially to enhance my understanding of  images  –  including my own.  He suggests that once a week we spend at least 10 minutes with a selected photograph and then, he instructs;

‘As you do, consider three topics in this order:

1   I see (Describe: examine each object, each detail, the light etc.  The associate: what are you reminded of by the shapes, juxtapositions etc?)

2   I feel (What do you feel as you look at the image?)

3   I think (Interpret and analyse)’

Obviously it is intended that the sequence can be applied to any photograph or work of art (or, indeed, any aspect of life!) but, for now, I invite you to examine the two pictures of the small sculpture below:

I recommend Zehr’s book.  It is a slim volume, cheap, and includes a number of useful exercises.