Cotswold Water Park: In Our Element
Date uploaded: October 28, 2008
‘In Our Element’ is a visual arts programme for the Cotswolds Water Park, 40 square miles of post gravel extraction landscape set on the borders of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.
It is a collaborative programme, and in addition to working with volunteers and communities, ecologists, geologists, hydrologists, historians, academics, and other professionals, the programme expects commissioned artists to work with artists from disciplines other than those of the visual arts.
Two recent commissions include Song Pole, designed by artist group limina. Song Pole is a green oak tower, incorporating an amplified nesting box which stands in the wooded countryside of the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester. The Song Pole provides a nesting site for Great Tits or Tree Sparrows during the spring-time. The Song Pole was commissioned as part of a grant funded by Natural England through DEFRA’s Aggregates Sustainability Levy Fund to the Cotswold Water Park Society.
Meanwhile, a bird hide has been created by artist Helen Shackleton as an iconic landmark in the park. Helen worked in partnership with Stroud based Lloyd Turner Ltd, Ecological Construction Solutions on the detailed design and construction of Reed Hide, aiming to produce a unique, distinctive and exciting structure using green and environmentally friendly materials and techniques.
