NewSculptureandWorkson PaperThe exhibition ispresented in partnershipbetween Peninsula Arts,Plymouth University1 Februaryto 29 March 2014andPlymouth City Museumand Art Gallery,Plymouth City Council1 Februaryto 10 May 2014

RESOURCEandACTIVITY PACK

Peter Randall-Page

WelcomePeninsula Arts and Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery have a growing commitment tomaking the best in the arts world accessible to young minds. We welcome all ages, fromPrimary through to students in Further Education and we hope to see you at Peter Randall-Page: New Sculpture and Works on Paper. One exhibition split across the two city centresites, it can be viewed in the Peninsula Arts Gallery from 1 February to 29 March 2014 andPlymouth City Museum and Art Gallery from 1 February to 10 May 2014.

Cover Image: Source Seed III . Photograph Steve Russell Studios

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Peninsula Arts and Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

As the public arts programme of the university, Peninsula Arts offers a year round platformfor cultural events, including exhibitions, music, film, public lectures, theatre and dance.Situated within a broad-based, multi-discipline university, Peninsula Arts has a particularinterest in supporting creative initiatives that explore the relationship between art, scienceand technology.

Peninsula Arts programming draws direct inspiration from the expertise and specialistknowledge of researchers and practitioners working across a range of art and science subjects.This collaborative approach to stimulating new knowledge ensures that the cultural programmehas a currency and a critical edge.

It brings to the South West region an international network of artists and experts recognisedfor their significant contributions to their field – as well as encouraging emerging voiceswhose fresh perspectives provoke new insight.

Close to Plymouth's city centre, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery has permanentgalleries featuring objects from its World cultures, Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Maritimeand Local History, Natural History, Fine and Decorative Art collections.

These displays are supported by an ambitious temporary exhibition programme, includingexamples of local, regional, national, and internationally recognised artists and makers, plusa varied and large-scale events programme. We support these collections, exhibitions andevents with a successful learning programme for local schools, colleges and universitiesthat is committed to exploration and engagement within a variety of subject areas.

Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth University Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

Booking a joint venue visit to Peninsula Arts andPlymouth City Museum and Art GalleryJoint Venue Visits

During the exhibition, local schools will have the opportunity to visit both Plymouth CityMuseum and Art Gallery and Peninsula Arts Gallery onWednesday 12, 19 and 26 February 2014Wednesday 5 and 12 March 2014

Workshops will run from 10am to 1.00pm, meeting at Plymouth City Museum and ArtGallery at 10am, pupils will have the opportunity to explore the drawings of Peter Randall-Page with a member of staff. Afterwards, you will visit the Peninsula Arts Gallery to lookat the sculpture on display, followed by a Plymouth University student-led workshop, relatedto the works on display and ideas around Peter Randall-Page’s work.

Please remember to bring along sketchbooks and pencils, plus necessary clothing for anart workshop. Bookings will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis for the joint venueworkshops.

Facilitated and Self-Directed Visits

Facilitated and self-directed visits can be booked for other days and times during the exhibition.These visits will be sketchbook focused - looking at, drawing from and discussing theworks on display. These visits can be combined with exploration of other galleries inPlymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (such as the Natural History gallery).

Visits to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery can either be facilitated by a member ofstaff or self-directed by a teacher.

Visits to Peninsula Arts Gallery are self-directed, with a short introduction to the exhibitionby the Exhibitions Co-ordinator.

To book a self-directed visit, please contact Plymouth City Museum and Art Galleryon museumvisits@plymouth.gov.uk

To book a workshop outside of this programme, please contact the venues individually:

Peninsula Arts: artsoutreach@plymouth.ac.ukFor more information on the arts outreach opportunities with Plymouth University in additionto those provided by Peninsula Arts please visit www.plymouth.ac.uk/artsoutreach

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery: museumvisits@plymouth.gov.ukFor more information on the schools engagement opportunities with Plymouth City Museumand Art Gallery please visit www.plymouth.gov.uk/museumeducation

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How to find us

Peninsula Arts Gallery Visiting Hours (during exhibition period):Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm / Saturday 11am to 4pm(closed Bank Holidays and Sundays)

How to find us: the Peninsula Arts Gallery and office are situated in the Roland LevinskyBuilding on site of Plymouth University campus; opposite the Drake’s Circus shopping centreand Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery on North Hill.

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery Opening Hours:Tuesday to Friday 10am to 5.30pm / Saturday 10am to 5pm(closed Sunday and Monday)Disabled access available.

How to find us: Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery is situated on North Hill, next toPlymouth's Central Library and opposite the Plymouth University. The main entrance door issituated on North Hill. For a map please see below.

PENINSULA ARTS,PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY

PLYMOUTH CITYMUSEUM AND ART GALLERY

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About this Resource and Activity PackPeninsula Arts Gallery and Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery are delighted to host anexhibition by British artist Peter Randall-Page (b.1954), which for the first time brings togethernew drawings and sculptures by the artist. Peter Randall-Page is internationally acclaimedand held in high regard as a sculptor and draftsman. He has undertaken commissions forthe Millennium Seed Bank, the Eden Project (2007) Cardiff University (2006), and Give andTake (2005) in Newcastle, which won the 2006 Marsh Award for Public Sculpture. His workis held in collections such as Tate and the British Museum, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, theNational Trust Foundation for Art, the British Council and the British Embassy, Dublin.

This Resource and Activity Pack has been designed by Peninsula Arts, PlymouthUniversity and Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery to offer a rich resource ofinformation and activities, which complement the exhibition.

Teachers are invited to use the resources within this pack and the information on the exhibitionto enhance their pupils’ understanding of contemporary art and to provide context byintroducing an art critical perspective to the artwork and art practice of the artist PeterRandall-Page. All the activities in this pack can be adapted for use in either Primary orSecondary settings.

Where this pack is constructed by a collection of resources and images provided by anexternal facility we aim to give full acknowledgement to this contribution.

Peter Randall-PageDuring the last 30 years Peter Randall-Page has gained an international reputation for hissculpture, drawings and prints. He is now recognised as one of Britain’s foremost sculptorsand has undertaken numerous commissions across the world, including Seed (2007) atthe Eden Project in Cornwall. His work is represented in many public collections includingTate Britain and the British Museum.

Peter has lived and worked in Dartmoor for more than a quarter of a century and this exhibitionwill be his first major show in the South West for more than two decades. Peninsula Arts,Plymouth University and Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery have come together toacknowledge and celebrate his significant contribution to the visual arts.

Randall-Page’s work has always been informed and inspired by the study of naturalphenomena, exploring its subjective impact on our emotions, and his interest in mathematicsand geometry stem from a desire to understand the underlying principles of growth andmetamorphosis that determine form.

Much of Randall-Page’s work combines a chaotic element with an ordering principle, forexample his use of naturally eroded boulders, rationalised with geometric patterns. “Theorder must yield to the chaos, and vice versa. Strangely this tension provides space forunselfconscious invention, improvisation and play”1

With great strength and richness, the work in the current show represents a developmentof his long-standing preoccupations. The exhibitions in both venues complement one another:Peninsula Arts Gallery will present five new large sculptures, whilst Plymouth City Museumand Art Gallery will show the Artist’s latest works on paper.

1 From correspondence between Peter Randall-Page and Nadia Thondrayen, November 2013

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Peninsula Arts GallerySculpture can be seen as the least abstract of art forms, literature and music have atemporal existence when read or played whilst two dimensional art is a kind of windowinto other worlds. Sculpture by contrast exists in our space and time and as such itsrelationship to the scale of our bodies is critical to how we experience it.” 2

The five large sculptures in Peninsula Arts Gallery are carved from beautiful Rosso Luanamarble quarried near Carrara, Italy. These highly figured stones take the form of variationson the five mathematical shapes known as Platonic Solids. Described by Plato in his dialogueTimaeus (ca. 350 BC), he equated the tetrahedron with the element fire, the cube with earth,the icosahedron with water, the octahedron with air, and the dodecahedron with thesubstance of which the constellations and heavens were made. These five shapes areconsidered to be the most essential volumetric forms because they are the only regularpolyhedra in which all edges, faces and interior angles are equal.

The Platonic Solids are the building blocks of our universe and can be found in atomic,molecular and crystalline structures. These forms have been understood by many differentcultures before Plato’s time, from India to Ancient Egypt. There is an indication that theNeolithic population of Britain had an understanding of these forms as evidenced by thespherical stones found in Scotland dated at least 3000 years ago. These stones werecarved into the geometric spherical versions of the Platonic Solids, small enough to carryin one’s hand.

Peter Randall-Page discovered that stacking spheres together systematically producescurved variations of these elemental forms and it is from this method of stacking that thesenew sculptures developed. Randall-Page is interested in the way in which geometry underpinsgrowth and sensuality. “The patterning in the marble is like solidified clouds or a planet seenfrom outer space cutting across the symmetry and regularity of the forms themselves.”3

2 Interview with Peter Randall-Page and Sarah Chapman, October 20133 From correspondence between Peter Randall-Page and Nadia Thondrayen, November 2013

Shapes in the clouds

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Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery"...we live in a universe with a strong propensity for symmetry and bilateral symmetry isof particular significance for human beings".4

Drawing is an important part of Randall-Page's practice as an artist. He always carries asketch book to note ideas and often makes observational drawings as a way of analysingand studying form. He uses drawings in many different ways, from technical drawings whenworking with architects and engineers to drawings which are artworks in their own right.

On display at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery are a series of large new inkdrawings, based on branching patterns and mirror image symmetry. Randall-Page hasallowed the ink to flow over the paper like tributaries or a river delta. He then inverts thepaper, effectively reversing gravity so the ink flows upwards like the branching patterns oftrees.

These ink drawings explore Randall-Page's interest in order and chaos. The underlyingstructures that govern the drawings are derived from simple mathematical rules of subdivisionand exponential growth. Although he guides the rivers of ink, there is a strong element ofchance inherent in this way of working. "...What I am fundamentally interested in is thehappenstance of how the ink flows, and the interaction of chance events with the initialmathematical order."5

These expansive drawings are then folded to create mirror image symmetry reminiscentof Rorschach ink blots. Randall-Page explores symmetry of various kinds in both his sculptureand two dimensional work. Symmetry is found everywhere in the natural world andRandall-Page believes that mirror image symmetry has a special significance for us."Human beings as well as other animals are bilaterally symmetrical. We are thereforepsychologically attuned to reading such forms in terms of emotion, making them a richsource of expression."6

4 Peter Randall-Page At Yorkshire Sculpture Park, ed. Sarah Coulson, Clare Lilly, Jennifer Mullins, Peter Randall-Page,Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2009

5 Interview with Peter Randall-Page and Sarah Chapman, October 2013.6 From correspondence between Peter Randall-Page and Nadia Thondrayen, November 2013

Blood Tree I. Photograph by Steve Russell

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The Influence of Music“There is a strong and basic human pleasure in patterns, particularly when they becomedifficult to discern. In the music of Bach or the improvised jazz of Charlie Parker orThelonious Monk the inversions of, and departures from, theme echo the variations foundin natural phenomena. I often use pattern and geometry as an ordering principle in myown work”.7

Rocks in My Bed (2005)

An element of Randall-Page’s practice is informed by theme and variation in music. RocksIn My Bed (2005) comprises four painted sculptures, each sitting in front of drawings oncanvas strips. This work is like a visual version of jazz music. The title of the work has beentaken from a Duke Ellington song, ‘Rocks in my Bed’. The patterns in this work relate to achemical phenomena of two compounds that cannot mix, which forms the basis of thecamouflage patterns seen on animals such as zebras and mackerel.

Rocks in My Bed (2005), photographer unknown, www.peterrandall-page.com

7 Peter Randall-Page At Yorkshire Sculpture Park, ed. Sarah Coulson, Clare Lilly, Jennifer Mullins, Peter Randall-Page,Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2009

10Sculpture: Material and Process“Sculpture can be seen as the least abstract of art forms, literature and music have atemporal existence when read or played whilst two dimensional art is a kind of windowinto other worlds. Sculpture by contracts exists in our space and time and as such itsrelationship to the scale of our bodies is critical to how we experience it”.8

Seed (2007) carved in Cornish granite andcommissioned by the Eden Project, sits atthe centre of the Core, the education suiteat the Eden Project. The architect JolyonBrewis of Grimshaw Partnership workedwith Peter Randall-Page to design the buildingand incorporate appropriate artwork. Bothbuilding and sculpture are based on a plantgrowth pattern knows as spiral phyllotaxis.This pattern relates to the Fibonacci Sequenceand is found in many natural forms includingthe arrangements of seeds in a sunflowerhead, leaves in plants and the scales ofpineapples and pine cones.

The roof structure and the monumentalsculpture are both based on these naturalpatterns and the chamber in which thesculpture sits was designed specifically tohouse it. The carving is based on the sameplant geometry as the roof but in a patternof raised hemispherical nodes, diminishingin size towards the top of the form.

Theme and Variation II (2008), is one ofa series of three, which are made frombronze and painted white. The seriesexplores the combination of an orderingprinciple with random variation. Theseworks have been cast from naturallyeroded boulders, where the element ofchaos and chance in nature is determinedby the manner in which the boulder waseroded. Randall-Page explains: “Theordering principle in these works… arethousands of small spheres. Placed tightlytogether on a flat surface, the spheres forma regular and potentially infinite hexagonalpacking where each sphere is surroundedby six others. But on an undulating surfacethis no longer works and the packing ofthe spheres takes on other geometriesand alignments.” 9

Walnut VII (2000), photograph by Mat Chivers

Seed (2007), photograph by Ben Foster

8 Interview with Peter Randall-Page and Sarah Chapman, October 2013.9 Ibid, page 11

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Drawing: Study and Form“I always carry a sketchbook and make many different kinds of drawings. Some areworking drawings for a specific project… others are objective drawings as an aid tomemory and a way to study and analyse form.” 10

Walnut VII (2000) The process of drawingallows Randall-Page to explore the possibilitiesof form. These remarkable black and whiteobservational drawings of walnuts kernelsresemble organic matter, brain scans, andthe roots of trees or perhaps twin foetusessharing their mother’s womb. At first it isnot apparent what the object is, as the eyescans the surface of the image, the shapemoves and twists on the page. Exploringthe idea of bilateral symmetry, Randall-Pageplays with the ideas that no two walnutkernels are the same, that within the rulesor their organic make-up, they differ greatly,much like humans. The illustration here onlypresents one from a series of walnut kerneldrawings. When presented wiath a series,one can see the play between forms.

Memory of Rain (2006) is made up of almost five thousand small terracotta discs, wherethe initial pattern was a series of overlapping circles. These overlapping circles were thenfilled in at random, spacing the discs as evenly as possible. From close up the work takeson no form at all, however from afar one can see the circular patterns like “…rain dropsmaking ripples on a still pond.”11

Walnut VII (2000), photograph by Mat Chivers

Memory of Rain (2006), photograph by Jonty Wilde

10 Ibid, page 1311 Ibid, page 12

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In Praise of Trees (2012) is carved from local Dartmoor granite and surrounded by anarchway of salvaged slate. Embedded within the sculpture is an oak seat on which the publicare invited to sit. The sculpture takes its inspiration from a fallen tree which left a cavity inthe ancient stone wall of Ham Woods, providing Randall-Page with the ideal location tobuild and design this work.

Randall-Page was invited to work with the local community Ham woods, a twenty-fourhectare woodland in the North West of the City of Plymouth as part of a project to engagepeople with their local green-space. ‘Stepping Stones to Nature’ (Plymouth City Council) and‘Take A Part’, a socially-engaged contemporary arts organisation, worked along with the‘Friends of Ham Woods’, local schools, community and youth groups to co-commissionthe artwork. The work forms part of Stepping Stones to Nature's wider work, encouragingmore people to enjoy the outdoors. The sculpture and the designed image of the oak treethat sits within it has become a symbol of Friends of Ham Woods and has attracted visitorsfrom across the city and region to the woodlands.

In Praise of Trees (2012), photograph by Take A Part CIC

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An Interview with Peter Randall-PageChaired by Sarah Chapman, Director of Peninsula Arts, October 2013

Sarah Chapman The exhibition features five new sculptures carved out of Rosso Luanamarble, which relate to the platonic solids. Could you explain the significance of theplatonic solids and how they have influenced this new set of work?

Peter Randall-Page Platonic Solids is the collective name given to the only five regularvolumes in which all edges and interior angles are equal. They have been known sinceantiquity and revered as fundamental to the way things fit together from atomic andmolecular structures upwards.

Some years ago I discovered that stacking spheres together systematically producescurvaceous variations of these elemental forms revealing their organic and expressivenature. This system of stacking is the starting point of the new sculptures.

SCWhilst recognising the harmonic and symmetry values underlying your sculpture, thereis also a very organic presence to the sculptures, which creates a tension between staticsolids and implied organic growth and change within the forms. Could you explain thisunderlying relationship?

PRP In these new works I am interested in the way in which geometry underpins growthand sensuality. You are right in thinking that whilst stone is ostensibly fixed and unchangingthe forms themselves are concerned with growth and metamorphosis. These sculptureshave a continuous unbroken surface like a membrane containing the burgeoning formswithin like ripe fruit or the meniscus on a drop of water. The underlying order becomes avehicle for expression.

SC It would be interesting to understand why some sculptures are carved at a certain scale.What determines the specific size of a piece and how do you go about selecting the stonefor a new work?

PRP Scale is always important and the decision to make a particular form a certain size isbased on its relationship to the scale of the human body.

Sculpture can be seen as the least abstract of art forms, literature and music have atemporal existence when read or played whilst two dimensional art is a kind of windowinto other worlds. Sculpture by contrast exists in our own space and time and as such itsrelationship to the scale of our bodies is critical to how we experience it.

The highly figured Rosso Luana marble I chose to use for these pieces introduces a cloudlike, poetic quality in contrast to the structural discipline of the forms themselves.

SC You often produce work in a series where the permutation of the form and the serialcharacter seems important. Would it be accurate to describe these serial works as exploringvariations of a theme?

PRP I am very interested in the idea of theme and variation, in natural phenomena as wellas music and visual art.

Our universe seems to be driven by the dynamic tension between a ubiquitous tendencyfor spontaneous pattern formation mitigated by an equally pervasive tendency for randomvariation, in fact the evolutionary process itself can be seen as a result of these polarities.

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Theme without variation would be stasis and variation without theme is inconceivablechaos. Most of my work is rooted in the concept of theme and variation. I often chooseways of working which combine an ordering principal with a random element. I aminterested in the possibility for unselfconscious play that this way of working facilitatesand ironically the discipline of order liberates the imagination.

PRPMaking a series of works which are variations on the same theme like these 5 newpieces can build an expressive visual language through comparison and contrast.

SC As part of the exhibition you have created a series of new large-scale drawings thatexplore mirror image symmetry, branching and root patterns. In a way that is similar toyour sculpture, the drawings seem to express a relationship between underlying form, thenature of control and the organic and fluid. Obviously the materials of ink and paper arevery different to the solid material used in your sculpture, however it is interesting to notethat gravity seems to be key in both sets of work, on the one hand the graphic work iscontrolled through the movement of paper allowing the ink to create rivulets over the surface,on the other hand we are very aware of the sheer physical weight of the sculptural works.Do you see similarities between the ink drawing and sculpture, and are you searching forsimilar relationships in both mediums?

PRP The sculpture and works on paper in the show are superficially very different but youare right in thinking that they both spring from similar preoccupations.

In his seminal book ‘On Growth and Form’ the maverick polymath Wentworth D’ArcyThompson revealed and explored the way in which the diverse forms that nature producesare all subject to common physical laws that explain the similarity in form between diversephenomena.

What I find so exciting about Thompson’s work is that the seemingly infinite variety of formsin the world are actually variations on a surprising small number of geometric themes, likethe five platonic solids for example.These themes are a direct consequence of the intrinsicspatial and temporal structure of our universe and are ubiquitous.

River deltas and vascular systems resemble the growth patterns in plants although thephysical process that produce them are entirely different. In a similar way, the shape of abeach pebble and a potato can be almost indistinguishable despite the fact that one isformed by erosion and the other by growth.

These new carvings imply growth and pressure from within though they are formed by akind of controlled erosion which is the carving process.

The drawings are made by pouring ink across the paper in a semi controlled manor butwhen inverted resemble the branching of an espalier tree.

The Catalan architect Gaudi employed a similar technique in order to develop a design forthe spires for Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona. He wanted the spires to appear tobe reaching up towards the heavens and achieved this by dripping plaster and invertingthe result to, in effect, reverses gravity.

SC Are there underlying rules and constraints through which the ink drawings are conceivedand developed? If so, are the rules themselves central to our understanding of the finalwork or a stage through which the work is conceived and generated?

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PRP The branching drawings follow simple rules of sub-division which are mathematicalrepresentations of exponential growth patterns. This structuring system is only the startingpoint but again what I am fundamentally interested in is the happenstance of how the inkflows, and the interaction of chance events with the initial mathematical order. This is avehicle for expression, balancing black and white, space and form.

SCWithin your work do you use drawing as an exploratory tool, for testing out and mappingsculptural ideas. In this way do you think through a process of drawing or do you modeland shape in a three-dimensional form first?

PRP Drawing has always been an important part of my practice as an artist.

For me drawing takes many forms and performs many different functions. I always carrya sketch book as an aide memoire for ideas and have always made objective drawings asa way of analysing and studying form.

I make technical drawings when working with architects or engineers and sometimes I makedrawings just as things in their own right.

The branching drawings in the show fall into this last category although I am currentlyalso interested in developing the same ideas using poured metal.

When working with stone I often draw directly onto the surface prior to carving andoccasionally painted boulders become an end in themselves.

SC Some of your sculptural work seem to have echoes of microscopic forms and evenbiological building blocks, is this form of natural science a direct source of inspiration?

PRP The study of natural science has always inspired and informed my work. Biologicalbuilding blocks have a pared down essential quality which has always appealed to me.Fundamentally I am interested in how natural phenomena impact on our subjective emotions,what things make us feel.

SC The exhibition is very much about celebrating the international significance of your work,which spans over forty years. The sculpture and drawings within this exhibition are all newworks, how do you see your practice as having developed since you first started out. Canyou trace some overriding themes throughout your work and what are the further areasthat you wish to explore and question through your work into the future.

PRP For me the development of my work has been a gradual evolution from an initialfascination with growth towards an attempt to understand and work with the underlyingprinciples that determine the forms it produces.

The relationship between surface and volume, inside and outside, positive and negative haveall been abiding preoccupations as well as symmetry and the idea of metamorphosis.

Fundamentally, however, I am concerned with the human condition and how the worldimpacts on our emotions. The choice of a particular method of working or formal concernsare all ways of creating a space for unselfconscious play, invention and improvisation.

I enjoy genuinely collaborative projects with practitioners from other disciplines and hopeto continue working with architects, composers, scientists, mathematicians and writers inthe future.

Activity: What do you see?The following activities can be adapted for use in either Primary or Secondary settings.

Select a drawing or sculpture and draw what you see in the box below.

Look carefully at the texture of the marble or ink drawings, can you capture all the sameeffect?

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Activity: Describe what you see?The words below can be used to describe the sculpture and drawings of Randall-Page,can you think of some more? Write your answers on the lines below.

Mineral

Rock

Strong

Organic

Flowing

Fluid

Liquefied

Solid

Poetic

Monumental

Huge

Striated

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Activity: Poetry and NatureThroughout history individuals in the Arts have used nature as a subject to write, paint, sculptand philosophise upon. In this way Randall-Page creates beautiful visual sculptures anddrawings using nature as his subject. Read this poem by John Keats, can you highlight thewords used to describe nature?

‘To Autumn’ by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and blessWith fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shellsWith a sweet kernel; to set budding more,And still more, later flowers for the bees,Until they think warm days will never cease,For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may findThee sitting careless on a granary floor,Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hookSpares the next swath and all its twined flowers:And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keepSteady thy laden head across a brook;Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mournAmong the river sallows, borne aloftOr sinking as the light wind lives or dies;And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble softThe red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

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To Autumn by John Keats, Famous Nature Poemswww.familyfriendpoems.com/famous/poem/to-autumn-by-john-keats

Activity: How symmetrical are you?Our features make us unique. As humans we are designed as symmetrical, however it isour asymmetrical features that make us special, distinctive and exceptional.

Using a mirror carefully hold the mirror up vertically to the centre of your face (along yournose and mouth) - is your face symmetrical? In pairs, and using the instructions below, tryand draw your partner’s portrait: Is their face symmetrical?

Drawing a Face

There are some basic rules you can follow to help you draw a face. Follow these simplesteps to draw the front view of a face (the measurements can be easily adjusted to createyour individual portrait or to draw an angled face).

There are many different facial shapes, but the basic shape is an oval. You can adjustthe oval to make it more square, round or heart-shaped according to your sitter (theperson that you are drawing). Start by drawing this shape.

Divide the face into two vertical halves, this will help you position the nose and theother features.

Then divide the oval into two horizontal halves, this creates the eye line.

Draw another horizontal line halfway between the eye line and the bottom of the chin,this is where the bottom of the nose will be and shows you where to position the ears.

If you draw another line in the centre of the bottom quarter, the mouth will sit a littleabove this line.

Finer details:

To position the eyes, divide the width of the face, along the eye line, into five. There isusually one eye width between the eyes.

The base of the nose is often as wide as the space between the inside corners of theeyes.

If the sitter is not showing any particular expression, the corners of their mouth will lineup with their pupils.

Ears sit from the eye line to the bottom of the nose, so make sure they are bigenough!

www.mylearning.org/portraits/p-607/

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Activity: Impressions on nature in salt doughMake your own hanging decoration using salt dough. Using the instructions below take awalk around your school to collect leaves, twigs and seeds to press into pieces of flattenedsalt dough. Make sure you make a hole at the top to hang your creation before you put itin the oven or microwave to bake. Always ask an adult to help with tis activity or alternatively,why not try this activity with air-drying clay?

Ingredients

1/2 cup of salt1/2 cup of water1 cup of flour

How to make the salt dough

Add the 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of flour to a bowl stir in the water adding it slowly –you may not need all of the water. You want the dough to be dry – if it gets sticky addmore flour. Knead the dough and then roll out and use as you want.

Once you have made the shapes you want then you need to dry them so you can paint.Traditionally salt dough is dried in the oven which takes around 3 hours at a low heat sothey don’t burn. But instead swap your oven for a microwave and zap for 3 minutes. Ifwhen the time is up they are still a little wet then just put back in for another 20seconds at a time until done. Leave to cool down and then paint.

Extra ActivitiesBuild a collage of surfacesUsing different coloured wax crayons, take rubbings of natural objects such as leaves andbark to build a collage of surface patterns.

SeedsUsing a magnify-glass chose a selection of seeds and nuts and draw what you see. Lookcarefully at the folds and bends or grooved lines along the surface. When you have finishedthe drawing, do you think the shapes and lines in your drawing look like anatomical drawings?

Build your own Platonic SolidsCan you name all the Platonic Solids? How many sides does each shape have? Now buildyour own Platonic Solid using straws, bind the corners with sticky tape to keep the joinstogether.

Nature WalkExplore a woodland area, a park, or maybe your garden to collect objects that relate toPeter Randall-Page’s sculptures and drawings. Think about your found natural objects, canyou see any shapes and patterns?

Create your own artwork at the beachArrange coloured stones, drift wood and shells at the seaside. What colours can you find?Try to arrange your objects creatively, thinking about colour and texture.

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Peter Randall-Page Biography:Please visit Artist’s website for a full biography

Individual Exhibitions

2013 Invited contributor Inter disciplinary ScienceReviews on D’Arcy ThompsonAwarded Honorary Doctorate of Letters,Bath Spa University

2012-13 Invited artist, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

2012 Judge, Threadneedle PrizeJudge, John Ruskin Prize

2011 Invited participant in Eskisehir CeramicSymposium, TurkeyJudge, International Print Biennale, NewcastleJudge, First 108 Public Art Commission,RBS, London

2010 Awarded Honorary Doctorate of Letters,Exeter UniversityInvited speaker, Noguchi Museum,Long Island USA

2009 Awarded Honorary Doctorate of Letters, YorkSt John University

2007 Residency on Lolui Island, Uganda

2006 Winner of theMarsh Award for PublicSculpture (Give and Take)Invited plenary speaker, Bridges Maths/ArtConference, London

2005-06 External assessor for the new Sculpture MA,Cork Inst of Technology, Eire

2004 Invited Artist, Gwangju Biennale, South KoreaSelector for the Discerning Eye exhibition,Mall Galleries, LondonParticipant in the Taurenne Dialogues, France.

2003-05 Member of the design team for the neweducation building, Eden Project

2003 Jerwood Sculpture Prize Judge, RWASculpture Open JudgeGive and Take large boulder work enabledby Sculpture at Goodwood

2000 Participated in Sculpture Symposium inOggleshausen, GermanyWomb Tomb large boulder work enabledby Sculpture at Goodwood

2013 Drawings and Prints, The Innovation Centre,University of Exeter

2011 Peter Randall-Page at the Bath Art Affair,The Octagon Chapel, BathRecent Works, Salon & Forecourt, Royal BritishSociety of Sculptors LondonSculpture in the Garden, RHS Wisley,Woking, SurreyShowing his Hand, Drumcroon Gallery,Wigan; Marlborough College

2010-11 Drawings, Southampton City Art Gallery

2010 Clay, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London alongside…Sculpture in the Garden, Hopton'sAlmshouses, LondonNew sculpture and Drawing, Jerwood Space,LondonPeter Randall-Page at Canary Wharf, London

2009-10 Peter Randall-Page at the Yorkshire SculpturePark, in and around the Underground Gallery

2009 Natural Selection, Centre for ContemporaryArt and the Natural World, Nr Exeter, Devon

2008-09 Stones, Sunlight and Shadows: New Sculpturein the Woods, New Arts Centre, Roche Court,Salisbury, Wilts

2008 Rock Music Rock Art, Pangolin London GalleryGranite Song, Burton Gallery, Bideford, DevonSculpture in Lister Park, Bradford, W.YorksDrawings in Café Gallery, Cartwright Hall,Lister Park, Bradford

2006 New Sculpture, Lyveden New Bield, NorthantsNew Works on Paper, FermynwoodsContemporary Art, Brigstock,

2005-06 Rocks in my Bed, One Trinity Gardens,Quayside, Newcastle Upon Tyne

2003 Sculpture and Drawings, The Natural HistoryMuseum, London

2001 Nature of the Beast, Djanogly Art Gallery,Nottingham; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield;Towner Art Gallery, EastbourneWalnut Drawings, Creasey Gallery, Salisbury

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Group Exhibitions2013Blickaschen 9, Frankfurt, GermanyBeauty is the First Test, Bilston Craft Gallery,WolverhamptonOut Of Nature, Newport House, HerefordshireTrees, North House Gallery, ManningtreeSummer Exhibition, Purdy Hicks, LondonMAKING ART, Gallery Petit, LondonSculptural Ceramics, Pangolin LondonOn Form London, The Crypt Gallery, LondonThe Sculpted Stone, The Garden Gallery, HampshireBeauty is the First Test, The National Centre for Crafts& Design, SleafordBeauty is the First Test, R-Space Gallery, LisburnLondon Arts Fair with Millennium galleryLondon Arts Fair with Pangolin LondonSculpture on display at the New Art Centre, Salisbury,WiltshireSculpture on display at Taichung & Taoyuan Cities,Taiwan

2012-13Sculpture Promenade, The Fitzwilliam Museum,Cambridge

2012Carving in Britain from 1910 to Now, Fine Art Society,LondonChristmas Cracker, Gallery Pangolin, StroudMixed Winter Exhibition, Millennium Gallery, St IvesBeauty is the First Test, Pump House Gallery, LondonSculptors, Drawings and Works on Paper’ PangolinLondonThree-Dimensional! Contemporary Sculpture in thePark from the collection of Museum Würth,Deutschordens Museum, Bad Mergentheim, GermanyUddenskulptur 2012, Udden Hunnebostrand, SwedenSTEIN Zeit, Rottweil, GermanyPertaining to Things Natural, John Martin Gallery,LondonPertaining to Things Natural, Chelsea Physic Garden,LondonA Celebration: Modern British Sculpture Beaux Arts,LondonFIDEM XXXII, The Hunterian, GlasgowOn Form Sculpture, Asthall Manor, Burford,OxfordshireSculptural, Coombe Trenchard, DevonParagone, Gloss Gallery, ExeterWoburn Artbeat 2012, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire

Art in Mind @ The Maynard, The Maynard School,ExeterInhabitants, Green Hill Arts, MoretonhampsteadSculptors Prints and Drawings, Gallery Pangolin,StroudLondon Art Fair with Millennium GalleryLondon Art Fair with Pangolin LondonSculpture on display at the Hannah Peschar SculptureGarden, SurreySculpture on display at University of Exeter, Devon

2011-12Figure in the Landscape, The Gallery, WinchesterDiscovery CentreMixed Winter Exhibtion, Millennium Gallery, St Ives

201140 Artists: 80 Drawings, Burton Art Gallery & Museum,DevonThree+, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, IrelandEdge: Heathercombe Sculpture Trail, DevonSummer Show, Pangolin, LondonForcemeat,Wallspace Gallery, New York, USAArtdejardin, Art Dejardin, RutlandSculpture at Glemham Hall, Aldeburgh Art, CarolineWiseman Fine ArtKettle's Yard: Found, The Brompton Garage, LondonBest of Silver, Pangolin LondonArtists for Kettle's Yard, Kettle's Yard, CambridgeLondon Art Fair with Gallery Pangolin, LondonSculpture on display at Jerwood Space, LondonSculpture on display at the Hannah Peschar SculptureGarden, SurreySculpture on display at University of Exeter, DevonSculpture on display at the Yorkshire Sculpture ParkSculpture on display at the New Art Centre, Salisbury,WiltshireSculpture on display at the Usher Gallery, Lincoln

2010-11Stone, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, Yorkshire;Pier Arts Centre, Orkney;Cass Sculpture Foundation, West SussexInside Out: Sculpture in the Digital Age, ObjectGallery, Sydney, Australia;DMU Cube, Leicester; Righton Gallery, ManchesterMetropolitan University;The Poly, Falmouth

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Southmead Hospital, BristolBristol City CouncilJohn Bunyan Upper School & Community College,BedfordBUPA, LondonCambridge,Cardiff UniversityDartington Hall TrustDevon County CouncilEast Sussex County CouncilEden ProjectForestry CommissionGwangju Biennale, South KoreaHampshire County Council, with Taylor WoodrowUniversity of Iowa, USAIsle of Anglesey County Council, WalesJerwood Sculpture ParkKarlsruhe University of Music, GermanyLeicestershire Health AuthorityLondon ClinicLondon Docklands Development Corporation andConran RestaurantsLothian Regional Council, LEEL, Edinburgh Old TownRenewal Trust

Manchester City CouncilMillennium Seed Bank, Wakehusrt Place, SussexMillfield School, SomersetThe National TrustNewbury Town CouncilNewcastle City Council, Silverlink PropertiesNuffield College, OxfordOggleshausen, GermanyOxfordshire County CouncilPlymouth City CouncilPrior’s Court School for Autistic Children, ThatchamRuwnzori Sculpture Foundation, UgandaSaid Business School, OxfordSt George’s Hospital, LondonSouthamptonSouthwark CathedralTaylor Wimpey, High WycombeTeignbridge District CouncilUplands Community College, East SussexThe Weld Estate, DorsetWorthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust, WestSussexYamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

Arnolfini Collection Trust, BristolThe British CouncilThe British Embassy, DublinThe British MuseumBurghley Sculpture GardenCastle Museum and Art Gallery, NottinghamThe Contemporary Art Society, LondonThe Creasy Collection of Contemporary Art, SalisburyDerby ArboretumDulwich Picture GalleryFalmouth Art GalleryFrederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, USALeeds City Art GalleriesLincoln City Council

Milton Keynes Community NHS TrustMuseum Würth, GermanyThe National Trust Foundation for ArtSnite Museum, USAUniversity of NottinghamNottinghamshire City CouncilUniversity of TasmaniaTate Gallery, LondonUlster Museum, BelfastUsher Gallery, Lincolnshire County CouncilVictoria Art Gallery, BathUniversity of Warwick, CoventryWest Kent College, Tonbridge

Commissions

Resources

Public Collections

Books:

Sarah Coulson & Clare Lilley, Peter Randall-Page atYorkshire Sculpture Park: Exhibition Guide, YorkshireSculpture Park, 2009

Sarah Coulson & Clare Lilley, Peter Randall-Page atYorkshire Sculpture Park: Exhibition Guide, YorkshireSculpture Park, 2009

Terry Friedman, Marina Warner, James Hamilton &Clive Adams, Peter Randall-Page Sculpture andDrawing: 1977 – 1992, 2003

Penelope Curtis & Keith Wilson,Modern BritishSculpture, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2011

Andrew Causey, Sculpture Since 1945, OxfordPaperbacks, 1998

Charles Harrison & Paul J. Wood, Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Wiley-Blackwell; 2nd Edition edition, 2002

Jeremy J. Gray, Matthew F. Esplen & David A.Brannan, Geometry, Cambridge University Press; 2edition, 2011

Scott Olsen, Golden Section, Wooden Books, 2006

Daud Sutton, Platonic and Archimedean Solids,Wooden Books, 2005

Miranda Lundy, Sacred Number, Wooden Books, 2006

Websites:

www.peterrandall-page.com

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Peninsula Arts, Plymouth University, Roland Levinsky Building,Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AAWeb: www.peninsula-arts.co.uk

t: 01752 585050

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery,Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AJ

Web: www.plymouthmuseum.gov.uk e: museum@plymouth.gov.ukt: 01752 304774