2019 BPSW artist Stuart Frost visits Lincoln

Most descriptions of Stuart Ian Frost's work sound like a narrative of the very idea upon which Blackfoot Pathway's: Sculpture in the Wild itself was founded: site specific sculptures related to a specific environment that are rooted in the history and culture of the area.

Frost, is one of two artists slated to create new artwork at Sculpture in the Wild in September. He visited Lincoln at the end of June to get acquainted with Lincoln, the sculpture park, the area and its flora.

It's interesting. It's totally different than what I had in my imagination when I came," he said of Lincoln, and Montana. "I don't think I was really prepared...I don't think you can really be prepared for Montana because it's so vast."

The visit gave Frost insight into the logistics and limitation of Sculpture in the Wild, as well as the material available for the artwork he will create this fall.

A native of Bath, England, Frost holds a master's degree in sculpture from London's Royal College of Art and has been living in Norway for the past 20 years, but he has created artwork at sites around the world, using natural materials that are often take for granted by locals.

"This site visit is to try to see those things that are perhaps on everybody's everyday list, that we go by and perhaps we just know it's there and accept it," he said.

By presenting in a new and potentially "alien" way, Frost's goal is to produce something eye-catching that plays with visitor's perceptions by creating "something you know, that you don't know."

"I try and work with it in such a way that you don't see the material, you see the sculpture first, then you start to look at it and go 'Oh, that's another way of showing me something I know and take for granted,'" he said.

In Peru, his search for material led him to pelican feathers; in Australia it was banksia, a common, but unique, wildflower with a distinctive cone shape. In his adopted country of Norway he looked to giant hogweed, which holds a spot in the Guinness book of World Records as the world's largest weed. Growing up to 15-feet tall, it can have stems up to four inches in diameter, and has sap that can scar exposed skin. In Norway, it's considered an invasive pest.

"I thought it's quite interesting - because people didn't enjoy that type of material-

to make something from it they might see in a different light. I made it into forms that ended up being bought by museums," he said. "People didn't see it for what it was...until I put it in another context. That's what I try to do."

Frost's body of work runs a wide gamut, from delicate creations of feathers, to woven wood forms, to basketry, but much of his site-specific work has been created from the remains of large trees.

"I've noticed here there's a lot of pine, obviously," he said. "You've got Ponderosa Pine, which is one of the bigger pines and you've got Douglas fir which also can get quite big."

Frost said he also has an interest in the cottonwoods that line the Blackfoot River.

Repeating patterns also play a significant role in Frost's work and he's hoping to find something related to the history of the area. He said he doesn't know if it would be appropriate to use designs from indigenous peoples, but he's confident he will find something he can use.

"I bet when I look at the photographs I've been taking, something will come up," he said, admitting that there's a sort of sensory overload during such visits. He likened the experience to going to a large museum, where it can take time to absorb all the imagery and information on display.

"It's not until afterwards that you feel you've got the essence of the place, perhaps," he said. Getting to a deeper understanding of place is important to Frost. "I want to create something unique. That's the point. So, they can say this guy's done his research and he knows what he's on about."

For Sculpture in the Wild Frost said he's "thinking big," while accepting he can't compete with nature itself.

"You just have to sort of fall into it. You've got to work with the(landscape)," he said. "It has got to be something that comes out of being here. I don't want to say what I think it might be."

Frost said there are a few things he's been thinking about already but he doesn't want to give the game away by talking about his initial ideas. He did confess that he's been talking to BPSW Artistic Director Kevin O'Dwyer about the possibility of creating a main sculpture and a second, subsidiary piece.

Frost and Alison Stigora, an American artist currently working as an assistant professor of Sculpture at Seattle Pacific University, will be in in Lincoln to create new artwork from Sept. 9-28, for the 2019 residency.