Arch [Hardcover]

Andy Goldsworthy (Author), David Craig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

Renowned for creating art outdoors from natural materials, British artist Andy Goldsworthy offers an inside look at an intriguing project. Following the route along which sheep were once driven from Scotland to markets in the north of England, he builds, dismantles, and rebuilds along the way a red sandstone arch in a variety of locations. 30 full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tour the English countryside with artist Andy Goldsworthy and writer David Craig, as they trace an ancient drover's route from the sheep pastures of Thornhill, Scotland, to the old market town of Kirkby Lonsdale, England. Goldsworthy, whose natural sculptures are often made up of collections of carefully arranged rocks, has created a self-supporting arch that is assembled with about 30 stones and no mortar. As he and Craig travel the British countryside, they set up and photograph the red sandstone arch in a wide variety of locations. Some sites have changed little over the centuries--on a number of occasions they erect the sculpture in original sheep folds (corrals). In other cases, the arch marks the changing landscape, as in Shap, Cumbria, where it was assembled on a sidewalk across from a relatively new school building.

Documenting this exploration, Arch includes 35 beautiful photographs as well as a poetic day journal written by Craig describing the journey. Looking at the different sites where the arch stood and reading Craig's insight into the geography and history of the land provides a unique opportunity for readers to experience Goldsworthy's work and England's natural history in one sitting. --Loren E. Baldwin

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First Edition edition (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810919931
• ISBN-13: 978-0810919938
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,400,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More astonishing art from Andy Goldsworthy, September 4, 2002

By 

Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arch (Hardcover)

There may be more imaginative artists than Andy Goldsworthy, but I can't think of any who use natural materials in natural settings in such an astonishingly effective manner. In "Arch," Goldsworthy traces--through photographs and a sort of diary--the movement of a sandstone arch through the farmlands of southwestern Scotland (his own "home territory"). This simple arch--a sort of brick-red, roughly hewn curve--is set up and dismantled in all sorts of unlikely places, mostly sheepfolds, along the way. It is photographed and a small entry written about its placement in each particular place.

The very first photograph, in Dumfriesshire, shows the arch almost glowing with ruddy color as a threateningly black sky looms overhead. From there, we variously see the arch at the edge of a hauling company's parking lot; in a livestock feedlot; in the middle of a road; with one foot in a narrow stream and the other in a grassy field; and even, wittily, beneath another stone arch which forms the doorway into a barn.

In each setting, the arch almost speaks to us. It looks by turns completely at home and relaxed all the way up to shy and out of place. Goldsworthy's great achievement here is to imbue a simple and completely inanimate object with different moods and faces depending upon the setting. The arch becomes almost a Rohrschach test for the reader. Most interesting!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stimulating Of The Mind, May 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Arch (Hardcover)

Andy's work is astonishing! He finds beauty and art in every corner of the outdoors. Each of his masterpiece's are unique and stimulating to the mind. I strongly suggest this book and others by him for education and pleasure. You will be amazed!