Sculptor Caroline puts the feather in FRED’s cap
Last updated 05:41, Friday, 26 September 2008
When a giant white feather lands on Tarn Hows lake this weekend, some walkers will be looking for a 60-foot goose.
But for Kirkoswald sculptor Caroline Dalton, the 12-foot artwork will explore the relationship between landscape and art.
Hand-made from polyurethane, the feather will settle on the water and move freely with the wind.
Caroline, 43, says: “Tarn Hows is a beautiful place in the heart of the Lake District – it almost defines Lakeland beauty, but when you look further into it you discover it’s a man-made stretch of land.”
Both natural-looking and artificial, the feather will simultaneously blend and contrast with its surroundings. The project is typical of an artist who prefers to keep her work out of the galleries.
She adds: “It’s the idea that you’re walking along and just happen upon it – it’s a sort of enigma. I’m very interested in site-specific art.”
The former theatre designer has previously turned Carlisle’s Lowther Arcade into a temporary gallery, as part of the Carlisle Art Festival. There, her architectural-style creations took inspiration from the area’s history.
She says: “In Carlisle we’ve got all this heritage around us and all these beautiful places – there’s a definite need for regeneration.”
A recent graduate of the Cumbrian Institute of the Arts, Caroline is keen to spread the word about creativity in the region. She is actively involved with art groups like the Cumbria Network and Carlisle Art HUB.
“We need to make the public aware that artists are here and create projects that take art to the people,” she says. “With our own city here we don’t want to have to go elsewhere to see these things.”
After years in the theatre world, she was tempted away by the prospect of studying fine art. These days, her style draws influences from sculptors like Anish Kapoor and Anya Gallaccio.
She says: “Working in the theatre, not many people stop to think about who made something. Whereas making your own independent art, it’s very much you as a person.”
A busy mother of three, Caroline helps pay the bills by running workshops and visiting local schools.
She tries to avoid the commercial side of the art world, preferring her work to be free and available to everyone. As an emerging artist, she says, it’s not easy – she’s still trying to establish a firm reputation.
“I’ll keep driving forward with my own ideas and my own enquiries,” she says.
“But equally I’m involved in groups that are trying to increase the presence of artists and contemporary art.”
And the FRED festival suits her down to the ground.
“It suits my criteria absolutely, because I’m so interested in the idea of getting out there,” she says.
Caroline’s sculpture, called Feather Flotsam, will be on display at Tarn Hows throughout the FRED Festival.
MEG JORSH
