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In the early 1980s, Martin Orram imagined a project that would help the public recapture a sense of the wonder and poetry of nature. The original vision grew to become the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust. The group maintains permanent and temporary installations in the Royal Forest of Dean on the border of Wales and England. By essentially creating outdoor gallery space, the Trust invites visitors to examine the feelings evoked by art and nature, and to consider the ways in which people respond to each. The project highlights the dialectical relationship between perceptions of transcendence and the more immediate connection between art, nature, and personal experience.
The Trust sees engagement with local communities as an integral part of what it calls “rural arts ecology,” and has worked closely with area schools to promote art and literature. Students spent time exploring the Forest of Dean and the installation, and created MP3 narratives about the woodland. The contributions ranged from fantasies describing the inhabitants of the forest to a history of the area told from the perspective of trees. Other collaborations have helped students explore photography and satellite navigation, and have brought artists into the classroom.
. Historian Shae Davidson's research interests include public policy and the relationship between culture and civil society. His publications range from articles on industrial history to absurdist poetry.
