A 4 day land art project at Starry Skies festival in Herefordshire, July 2017.
Working within the local environment and using natural materials, we created a mythical beast quietly grazing with her foal, in a shady glade within the woodland. After creating the inner armature from locally sourced branches, we worked with families over the next three days to build up the body of the adult unicorn from withy. The foal was then created from a withy armature and cob – a mixture of local mud, sand, and straw. Mums, dads and children showed massive amounts of focus and enthusiasm, becoming fully absorbed in the work.
As we worked we chatted about some of the myths and stories surrounding unicorns, and debated the differences between Unicorns, Pegasus’ and Alacorns – I learnt a lot!
One of my favourite moments was our last visit to the Unicorns before leaving. At first I felt dismayed that someone had moved a lot of branches in front of the sculpture – until I realised that they were letters, spelling out ‘THANKS’ – one of the best messages I’ve ever received.
Tucked away from the main site, deep in the woods, festival goers had to walk off the beaten tracks to find us, making the encounter a little bit more magical. The unicorn and her foal looked comfortably at home, and they will stay nestled there now for the next year, encountering and being shaped by the elements.
“The sculptures were tucked away off the beaten track, so we had gaggles of little ones hunting through the woods, after hearing rumours of a unicorn hiding amongst the trees – they certainly weren’t disappointed when they found it. Highly recommended!” Starry Skies Staff
