New sculpture unveiled at Kielder Forest

Jul 28 2010 Evening Chronicle

VISITORS to Kielder Forest in Northumberland came face to face with this huge and rather sinister-looking sculpture.

The artwork, pictured above, which doubles as a shelter from the elements for weary walkers and cyclists, has been created by an American artist collective known as Simparch.

The huge timber head has been dubbed Silvas Capitalis, which is Latin for “forest head”.

A description of the piece on the official Kielder Forest website describes the mysterious sculpture as: “A watcher, an imaginary presence who has observed the passing occupation of the landscape over past millennia, and who has also seen how the environment has dramatically changed during the last 100 years with the coming of the forest and more recently the lake.”

The sculpture took two months to construct with some 3,000 specially shaped pieces of timber, which were glued and pegged together without the use of any screws or nails.