Andy Goldsworthy’s Wood Line (2011) is made from eucalyptus branches laid out in a sloping, sinuous curve through a standing eucalyptus grove near Lovers’ Lane, the Presidio’s oldest footpath. Like the artist’s earlier Spire, the work responds and adds to the layers of human history in this forest, which was planted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Goldsworthy has described the movement of the piece through the landscape as “drawing the place.”
Installation of the sculpture required a delicate touch, sited as it is directly underneath a section of the Presidio’s federally designated historic forest. In order not to disturb the trunks or root systems of the venerable, towering eucalyptus trees that surround the path, the logs were transported and placed using the utmost care.
Goldsworthy continued his work in the Presidio with Tree Fall (2013).
- Video: Wood Line
- Installation Views
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Brian Vahey
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Monique Deschaines
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Monique Deschaines
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Monique Deschaines
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Brian Vahey
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Monique Deschaines
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood Line, 2011; photo: Monique Deschaines - In the Press
Andy Goldsworthy draws his inspiration from a specific place and creates art from the materials he finds close at hand, such as twigs, leaves, stones, or snow. Working in locations as diverse as the Yorkshire Dales and the Australian Outback, the artist strives, in his words, “to make connections between what we call nature and what we call man-made.” Goldsworthy is known to many through the 2001 film Rivers and Tides. In addition to his installations in the Presidio, his works in the Bay Area include Stone River at Stanford University and Drawn Stone at the de Young Museum.