Branches and roots
The New Forest Imaginarium is next up: opening at the end of the month in Sway, Hampshire, right in the heart of the Forest. I’m now working on the LIDAR […]
New Forest Imaginarium
Back in the New Forest to get this project off the ground, now that things are opening up after lockdown. Based at spudWORKS, I’ll be scouting the forest for suitable […]
Estover for the Imagination
Reinhild and I have now finished the research stage of our residency in the New Forest. We presented our findings and ran a workshop at spudWorks in Sway last week. […]
Hoofscape
It is the unexpected beauty at the heart of technology’s ability to transform the everyday into the exceptional that keeps me going. Here, for example, is the horseshoe print I […]
Mushroom point cloud
This image of some mushrooms near to Stonyford Pond on the heath at Hilltop is made up of individual dots in 3Dspace, each one coloured. So once placed inside a […]
On another planet
Sometimes out on the heath it does feel as if you are on another planet, in this case with hoof prints embedded in the surface mud.
In the land of Lilliput
Out on the heath the action happens well below you, at ground level. The close-cropped growth of grasses; the slow bonsai-like growth of the woody plants; the sinking of the […]
Fuzz bunker
I’ve named this place the Fuzz Bunker. It’s a clump of gorse in the middle of the heath tall enough to walk inside. The ponies and cattle use it to […]
Looking for the lapwings
Met up with Andy Page today, Forestry England’s Head of Wildlife in the New Forest, and wandered the heath as well as a wide range of wildlife topics. Whilst we […]
Soft underfoot
It’s tipping it down outside but in here, the brand new residency studio of Spudworks, it’s all cosy. If you are interested in making work in/for the New Forest then […]
Between picture-postcard & petroleum
On the left, the unreal picture-postcard world of Beaulieu, on the right the holding tanks of the Fawley oil refinery, and in the middle Hilltop, with its open heathland – […]
Tumulus that’s not a tumulus
A very full day in the New Forest, exploring Hilltop. This (the left hand one) was the highest point around, and not what it seemed. Time to head home now, […]
Across the cattle grid
It’s exciting to arrive in the New Forest at night to begin a new residency. Across a cattle grid and then you know you are on the Commoning Land, where […]
Simon Ryder 