Growing is a new exhibition by Scottish Borders based sculptor Charlie Poulsen. It opens to the public for the first time at Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries on Saturday 19 March before going on tour across southern Scotland.
Charlie Poulsen is known for his ambitious landscape projects such as the 2005 ‘Point of Resolution’ on the Southern Upland Way above Innerleithen in The Scottish Borders - but here at Gracefield you'll find the scale a little smaller - but just as surprising and insightful.
The Gracefield grounds have been planted with a living sculpture 'Host', which has inspired a link with The Wordsworth Trust on 13 April. As a fresh interpretation of a lovely but hackneyed poem, it made me smile. Come and have a look.
In Gallery 2 you'll find Charlie’s striking monochrome drawings. They're not drawing for sculpture but a separate though connected activity. His current abstract drawings have been inspired by the structure of hedges, trees and ploughed fields in winter.
The latest series of Charlie’s sculptures all use part of a tree as a starting point. Combining the materials of wood and lead takes the object away from the familiar. In Charlie’s words; “I am aiming at a point where the response to seeing the piece is not tree but something other - a suggestion of a machine perhaps."
The exhibition, supported by dgArts, runs until 14 May and is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. On Wednesday 13 April Charlie will give an illustrated talk about his work as part of a day long series of activities entitled Homage to Wordsworth, also includes free poetry events run by The Wordsworth Trust – see www.dgarts.co.uk or www.dumgal.gov.uk/gracefield for full details. This is a free event but booking is essential – telephone 01387 262084.
