An Oak Tee, Daniel Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin at the Royal Academy of Arts.  An Oak Tree.

This post is just on An Oak Tree, an installation by Michael Craig-Martin. I saw this artwork at Tate Modern (I think ?) many many years ago, I was intrigued by it so I remembered it very well. But, I did not remember who the artist was. In fact I did not know Craig-Martin's work - it was later that I fell in love with his coloured paintings - so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was the first artwork in the exhibition of Craig-Martin's work at the RA. There will be posts on the rest of the exhibition but this is just about  An Oak Tree.

Following his graduation from Yale School of Art in 1966, Craig-Martin began to produce sculptural works based on the minimalist and conceptual movements of the time.  He began working with ready-made objects such as buckets, milk bottles and clipboards to produce a group of wall-based sculptures that explored the relationship between art and everyday items.

In one radical work, An Oak Tree (1973), a glass of water is accompanied by a text declaring that the artist has transformed the object into a tree. With this uncompromising statement, Craig-Martin challenges the perceived roles of artist and audience in making a work of art.

An Oak Tree, 1973, (glass, water, metal and printed text on paper)

The text accompanying the artwork:

Following An Oak Tree, Craig-Martin felt that he had reached a conclusion to the conceptual path he had been following and returned to basics through drawing and image-making.

Abbey of St Mary, Cirencester

The Abbey in Cirencester was dedicated to St Mary. It was founded as an Augustinian monastery in 1117 on the site of an earlier church, the oldest-known Saxon church in England, which had itself been built on the site of a Roman structure. The monastery was suppressed in 1539 by Henry VIII.

The area that contained the nucleus of the monastery is now a public park, and only the Norman Arch, an original gateway to the abbey remain above ground.

The church of St John Baptist is situated in Market Square, is built of Cotswold stone and is one of the largest parish churches in England. It contains various tombs and monuments and some fragments of medieval stained glass and wall paintings.

We entered the church

and were immediately impressed by the ceiling

There are several stained glass windows. Some of these include fragments of medieval glass but are largely 18th century.

The pipe organ was built by Father Willis in 1895 with a case by George Gilbert Scott

There is a Lego model of an interpretation of how the Abbey of St Mary may have looked in the 1400s. 

We left the church

and moved on to the cemetery at the back

which includes a Garden of Remembrance dedicated to the Royal British Legion, the Women's Section

good view of the church from here

And then it was time to enter the Abbey grounds. As I mentioned earlier, the Abbey, dedicated to St Mary, was founded as an Augustinian monastery in 117 on the site of an earlier church, the oldest-known Saxon church in England. The church was greatly enlarged in the 14th century with addition of an ambulatory to the east end. The monastery was suppressed in 1539.

The area that contained the nucleus of the monastery is now a public park, and only a Roman Arch, an original gateway to the abbey, and parts of the prcinct wall remain above ground. The edict of Henry VIII suppressing the major Abbeys and Monasteries of England hit Cirencester on the morning of December 19th, 1539.

The Roman Arch, difficult to make out, given the cottage built above it and the scaffolding

The stone slabs mark where the abbey was located.

Cirencester

We spent a day in Cirencester recently, as we had never been and wanted to find out about the town. Nice narrow streets with interesting architecture

with narrow lanes

and many courtyards coming off those main streets.

The courtyards have some interesting shops and lots of cafes and eateries

We inevitably ended up in the town square

Pink Lady Dancing with Big Brown Dog, by Sophie Ryder, (bronze)

There was a market in the main square

lots of food sttalls

and lots of people sitting in the sunshine enjoying the food

The church of St John the Baptist dominates the square

We moved on form the square

into Gloucester Street

some lovely old buildings here

walked back to the centre

and decided to explore some more of the alleyways and courtyards

so many places where one can eat

some of these courtyards are really hidden away

such a lovely feature for a town to have

some are really tucked away

and you have to actively look for them

endless.

We got to this park but decided to leave it for later, after we had explored more of the town, and after some lunch. As it happened, we never got back here, so, that's another reason to visit Cirencester again.

We walked in a loop 

got back to Market Square

bought some lunch from one of the stalls and ate it in the Abbey Gardens - post to follow.

When we eventually decided to head back home, we stopped to have a look at this air raid shelter which is situated in the car park

had a look through the gate and then headed for our car.