17th August Harrogate 1: Just use your imagination


Well not quite Harrogate, more what we did on the way to Harrogate at the start of a little jolly to a location requiring more pre departure paperwork, innoculations and tests than a trip to many European countries currently on the red list. Yes, we were off to Yorkshire with our initial destination being the Yorkshire Sculpture Park or as TOM and I would soon refer to it, the Yorshire Imagination Park but more of that later.

Part of the former Bretton Hall estate, the huge area of land just outside Wakefield was purchased by the local council in the late 1970's and transformed into a  'gallery without walls', the 500 acre open air offering a changing exhibition programme of internationally renowned artists and sculptures. All of which sounds really great if you have a great imagination.

Under a grey overcast sky that intermittantly threatened to burst and drench us, we began to wander around the grounds that to my mind would have made a fantastic locaton for a trail run with its undulation hills, areas of woodland forest and small lake. We were both surprised at how infrequently the 'art installations actually appeared and then when they did we struggled to identify what they actually were due to a lack of relevant signposts and a not very accurate map. and even when we did work out what we were looking at we really struggled to actually wonder what Sophie Ryder's giant Rabbit Woman was supposed to be telling us.

It got so funny that at times it required a great leap of imaginaton to try to figure out what exactly we were looking at and how the artists actually got away with convincing anyone that what they had made was actually 'art'. Were we looking at an award winning installation or simply a pile of rock or fallen tree? Sometimes it was difficult to tell and on occasions the fallen timber seemed to be better composed and constructed that the pieces actually attributed to world renowned artists.

And as for the lack of benches to sit down on, well just don't get me started!!. A lovely walk but not really an art warming experience.


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