Jupiter Artland will unveil Andy Goldsworthy’s “Clay Tree Wall” for the first time in twelve years when the sculpture park opens for its 2025 season on 11April.
This is described as a “treasured artwork” and will be displayed in the Upper Steadings Gallery alongside rarely seen works by Scottish artist, Ian Hamilton Finlay.
The exhibition, titled “WORK BEGAT WORK: Ian Hamilton Finlay & Andy Goldsworthy at Jupiter Artland”, coincides with Ian Hamilton Finlay’s centenary and the National Galleries of Scotland’s celebration of Goldsworthy in Edinburgh. Both artists have been fundamental to Jupiter Artland’s development and philosophy.
Jupiter Artland say that works by both artists will be “placed in conversation”.
Founder Nicky Wilson credits a visit to Finlay’s garden artwork “Little Sparta” in the Pentland Hills as the inspiration behind Jupiter Artland. Finlay himself visited the site in 2008 during its early development and selected a location for his neoclassical “Temple of Apollo” beside a magnificent beech tree.
His phrase “WORK BEGAT WORK” became a guiding principle for the sculpture park’s growth, suggesting that one artwork naturally invites others when placed in harmony with the landscape.
Goldsworthy visited Jupiter Artland the following autumn while Finlay’s arched bridge “Only Connect” was being installed. This experience drew his attention to the site’s bedrock, inspiring his work “Stone House (Bonnington).” The featured “Clay Tree Wall” was created using a tree removed during woodland coppicing. Goldsworthy mounted it horizontally on a wall and covered it with clay from Dumfriesshire mixed with hair, creating a unique texture that cracked organically as it dried.
For the first three weeks of the season, visitors can also view Goldsworthy’s “Harvest Moon,” a canvas marked by the muddy footprints of workers who built “Stone House (Bonnington),” offering a distinctive portrait of the relationship between the labour of the dry stone wallers and the land where they worked during a cold winter. It will be displayed in the Ballroom Gallery for the first three weeks of the season (11–27 April) to mark this special opening.
Nicky Wilson, Founder and Director of Jupiter Artland, said: “In 2025 we celebrate two great artists who have played a pivotal role in the creation of Jupiter Artland. Ian Hamilton Finlay would have been 100 years old this year and there are international celebrations for him through an exhibition series, titled ‘Fragments’, and a new publication of the same name.
“At Jupiter we will celebrate his life and work alongside one of the nation’s greatest living artists, Andy Goldsworthy, who is being honoured with a presentation at the National Galleries of Scotland. For Jupiter the two artists are inextricably linked, and we are delighted to bring these works into dialogue during this significant year.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
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