Sheepfolds all gathered in

An Evening With Andy Goldsworthy, at the Rheged Centre, 7pm, Friday March 21 

The largest collection of permanent work undertaken by environmental sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is nearing completion in the Lake District county of Cumbria. Entitled Sheepfolds, it is a major arts project commissioned by Cumbria County Council. Goldsworthy has worked on 48 sheepfolds spread across the county to create art that reflects on man’s use of the landscape, the passage of time and memory. He is now completing the last sheepfold, sited at Tilberthwaite near Coniston. 

County Councillor Peter Jackson, portfolio holder for culture, said: 

“Sheepfolds has been a tremendous project for Andy Goldsworthy and for Cumbria. It has produced the largest single body of work in one area by an artist whose work with the landscape in all parts of the world has won admiration. The project has involved many local people, such as landowners, parish councillors and schools, so that the local communities are left with a feeling of ownership of art which has enriched the county immeasurably.”   

Completion of the project is being celebrated with an event at the Rheged Centre, near Penrith, on Friday March 21. People from the local communities where the work is sited and many others who have been involved with the project have been invited to “An Evening With Andy Goldsworthy.” After a reception hosted by Cumbria County Council, the invited audience will hear a talk by the artist about the project.   

The Sheepfolds project was commissioned by Cumbria County Council in 1996 for the UK Year of Visual Arts. Work started in January 1996 and was planned to continue into 2002. The programme was delayed by the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak of 2001. 

“Although each fold is an individual piece, the project should be seen as a single work of art,” Goldsworthy has said.   

Sheepfolds connects directly with the farming tradition and history of Cumbria. By using the sites of existing or ruined agricultural structures and rebuilding or repairing them, new life is breathed into them, where before they would simply have melted into the landscape. Many of the folds were derelict and have been rebuilt, changed and added to ways in which respond to the landscape and the agricultural environment - and to the sheep which have helped form the distinctive landscape of this part of the world since the medieval monasteries created their first sheepwalks. Their locations range from remote fellsides to a site beside the M6 motorway. The project has perhaps become more poignant and significant with Cumbria reshaping and reinventing itself after the devastation of foot and mouth.   

The enthusiasm and commitment from people of Cumbria, individuals, farmers, landowners, wallers, quarrymen, communities, parish and town councils have played a huge part in the development of Sheepfolds. Cumbria County Council, Arts Council North East and North West have supported the Sheepfolds project with National Lottery Funds. A wide range of professional organisations have also been involved in the project: East Cumbria Countryside Project which manages the commissions programme, Cumbria's six district authorities, North West Development Agency, Cumbria Rural Development Programme, Leader Programme, the National Trust, the Lake District National Park Authority, Prism Arts, Cumbria Arts in Education, Newton Rigg College, and Cumbria Public Art.   

A permanent exhibition devoted to the Sheepfolds project is to be sited in the Heritage Centre at Appleby.