Modern nature building wrap
Woolley, Dawn 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6958-5658
(2019)
Modern nature building wrap.
[Show/Exhibition]
Abstract
In 2019 Woolley was commissioned by The Hepworth Wakefield and Wakefield Council to produce a building wrap design in response to the Modern Nature exhibition at The Hepworth. Woolley worked with members of the local community, including The Hepworth’s Art Social group (for young people not in education, employment or training) and students from Wakefield Adult Education centre, to produce a design that references the history and function of the historic Upper Mill building and the neighbouring community garden. Raymond Williams notes that, since the agricultural and industrial revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries, nature has been consumed as a source of raw materials and a form of leisure. He writes: ‘[t]here is more similarity than we usually recognise between the industrial entrepreneur and the landscape gardener, each altering nature to a consumable form’ and he goes on to observe that the landowner who benefitted from the landscaper’s work was also often a mill or factory owner (Culture and Materialism, 1980, p. 81). The blurred distinction between nature and industry is explored in the Modern Nature exhibition, using photographs that show how urban and rural landscapes merge. Bringing together both aspects of ‘consumable nature’ described by Williams and the merged landscapes of the Modern Nature exhibition, Woolley worked with local communities to produce a 2-D design that references the history and industrial function of the location. Through the construction of flower, corn and barley sculptures made out of recycled material such as plastic bags and cardboard boxes, participants considered the blurred boundaries between nature and man-made materials, from the early industrial processes of corn grinding and cultivated landscapes to the impact of consumer culture on the environment today. Simultaneously, the sculptures are objects of nature, culture and industry. The sculptures were photographed and arranged in a composite design that was printed onto the Upper Mill building wrap.
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