Roam home to a dome

Carlow Forest

Carlow forest is a pine plantation that sits on the mountain behind Cow House Studios on the border between Wexford and Carlow. It is a managed forest and the wood is used for timber products. I went on a long (for me) hike around the surrounding area, walking down the local lanes and then taking a trip into the forest. It was an amazing experience, I didn’t see a soul all the time I was in there, my imagination nearly got the better of me at times. The forest has slate-gravel  roads that wind up the mountain which allow access for crews to reach trees which are to be felled. From these paths, the crews seem to be taking take large machines into the trees, clearing a track as they go. You can make inroads into the forest from these tracks. You can very soon find yourself in a dark forest, on your own with no points of reference.

My Surroundings

Just spending some time at the moment getting used to my new surroundings. Here are some pics

Trees Trees Trees

Since May, I have been in charge of installing a piece by Olafur Eliasson called The Forked Forest Path (1998) at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. It consists of a dense assemblage of saplings wedged between the floor and ceiling with a path running through the middle which splits into two. I had to get hold of 2500 trees and together with a plucky team of volunteers, technicians and park rangers bring them to the gallery, strip them of all their leaves and install them. We had to battle the eccentric weather that Manchester is famous for -boiling hot sunny days, freezing cold wind and terrential rain. It took up a lot of my time so I am pleased I can get some time to concentrate on my own practice.

Cow House Studios

Hi, I’m Matthew Denniss and I am an artist based in Manchester. I am doing a residency at Cow House Studios in County Wexford in Ireland from the end of September to the beginning of December. This will be an opportunity for me to make some new work and to think about the sort of things I want to make in the future. I thought I would try to keep a blog to make a record of my various activities throughout the residency. I will try to update it as much as possible.