Anne-Mette Nyland

Without a beginning and with no end

IDEA, INSPIRATION AND THOUGHTS A lazy summer day i 2011, on a beach outside Århus, Denmark, I noticed a branch moving in the light breeze making lines in the sand. I was lying on my stomach with my head resting in my hands just observing... The peaceful calmness of the experience allowed for a close and timeless connection with nature, creativity and creation.  Many questions arose, first philosophical and later practical, which all became a part of the process and awakened the urge to share the experience. Does nature have its own creative expression? Is there a deeper more lasting, sustainable creative expression? What is creativity? What is creation? Can the drawing process be strengthened or helped? Can I call the drawing my work? Or is the wind transformed into an artistic expression? I took the branch home and hung it up in my garden, taped a piece of charcoal to the end of the branch and placed a sheet of paper underneath. It was fascinating to see all the different drawings that appeared, I then decided that the wind should be allowed to draw for 24 hours on each drawing and the expression “the wind of change” got a new meaning.  During the next year many different prototypes for catching the wind replaced the branch and they all acted differently. which left me a endless variety of expressions and possibilities. The drawings themselves became a “present moment document” with the wind as parameter. A fine and poetic expression, where the movement of the hand is recognizable in the lines.

IN DIALOGUE WITH  NATURE THE WIND is a strange phenomena which you only see, experience or feel when it touches something, it has neither smell, taste or colour unless it has touched something. The winds strength or softness is clearly expressed in the drawings. The wind is the element that connects everything, it dances twists and turns or hits the charcoal on the paper and points or lines which together create a drawing or expression on the paper. The Drawing becomes a visual expression of the wind. What is happening is very simple and uncomplicated, the wind is constantly moving around the planet and even in calm conditions the wind will leave its mark. Observing nature can be a meditative experience. It is not an abstract activity but contains both mental creativity and practical activity. WORK PROCESS In collaboration with designer Denis Beale I went looking for a form that was open and would not restrict the wind from any direction. We wanted to create a sculpture  that was a visual experience but also answered the practical and functional requirements.  Practically it should holding the drawing stick. Functionally it should being able to draw many drawings.  Artistically/Visual it should express endlessness. The desire was to find a form

Landart
Metall 2,5m x 2,5m x 2,85m