Chris Drury (born 1948) is a British environmental artist. His body of work includes ephemeral assemblies of natural materials,

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

in the mode associated with

Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy (born 26 July 1956) is an English sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural and urban settings. Early life Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire on 26 J ...

, as well as more permanent landscape art, works on paper and indoor installations. He also works in 3D (three-dimensional) sculpture.

Biography

Drury was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1948, his family moving to the UK when he was 6 years old. From 1966, he attended

Camberwell College of Arts Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgra ...

(at the time known as Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts), studying art and sculpture, where he was taught drawing by artists such as

Euan Uglow Euan Ernest Richard Uglow (10 March 1932 – 31 August 2000) was a British painter. He is best known for his nude and still life paintings, such as ''German Girl'' and ''Skull''. Biography Euan Uglow was born in 1932 in London. As a child, he l ...

. After being introduced to him by his dentist, in October 1975 he was invited to accompany walking artist

Hamish Fulton Hamish Fulton (born 1946) is an English walking artist. Since 1972 he has only made works based on the experience of walks. He translates his walks into a variety of media, including photography, illustrations, and wall texts. His work is containe ...

on a journey through the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

which he describes as seminal in his transition from traditional sculpture and portraiture to environmental or

. Initially frustrated by comparisons of his work to leading land artists such as Fulton and Richard Long, his work continued to develop and in 1982 he made what he describes as a "radical departure" and spent a year creating ''Medicine Wheel'' in which he explored seasonal change and displayed objects from nature over the course of a year in the form of a large circle. ''Medicine Wheel'' was displayed through Coracle, a small independent gallery with whom Drury continued to work intermittently for a number of years, and was eventually given to Leeds City Art Gallery. Drury has largely continued to eschew traditional larger galleries, preferring to distance himself from commercial expectation and production which has allowed him a freedom to work in remote areas and in natural surroundings and to make art in a wide range of unusual collaborations.

Artworks

In addition to ephemeral works, some of Drury's lasting pieces include "cloud chambers", darkened caverns constructed of local rock, turf, or other materials. Each chamber has a hole in the roof which serves as a pinhole camera; viewers may enter the chamber and observe the image of the sky and clouds projected onto the walls and floor. He has made several around the world, with his latest, ''Horizon Line Chamber'', constructed with master craftsman Andrew Mason, opening in 2019 at

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

as part of the Headspace to Headlands Heritage Lottery Commission. From December 2006 to February 2007, he was

artist in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

with the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

where his work included creating ephemeral pieces with the materials of nature, including Wind Vortices, ice prints and ice igloos which he also photographed. His works in 3D sculpture include mushroom clouds evoking nuclear testing made out of as many as 6000 pieces of fungi strung floor to ceiling. These were first exhibited at his first major solo exhibition in the USA, ''Mushrooms , Clouds'', at Nevada Museum of Art in 2008. On paper, he uses a variety of unusual media, notably mushroom spore prints, dung, and peat, as a source of colour and patterns, which he might overlay with text or fingerprints, or underlay with maps or other geographic images. Drury has also produced works associated with the body, working in residence with hospitals and incorporating echocardiogram data and blood into his art. Drury is an active participant in several organisations which aim to address the effects of and challenge thinking about

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

through art, including

Cape Farewell, UK Cape Farewell is an artist led organisation that works to create an urgent cultural response to climate change. Launched by David Buckland in 2001 with a series of ground-breaking artist and scientist manned expeditions to the Arctic, Cape Farewe ...

, ONCA (a

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

based charity which "supports artists and audiences to engage with environmental and social challenges" and Art Works for Change, which creates exhibitions worldwide to advocate for human rights, social justice and to highlight environmental awareness. File:Heart of Reeds, Lewes Railway Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 291632.jpg, Heart of Reeds, Lewes File:Coppice Cloud Chamber in King's wood - geograph.org.uk - 1092976.jpg, Coppice Cloud Chamber File:Koblenz Ehrenbreitstein.JPG, Moselle Rhine Whirlpool File:Wave chamber - geograph.org.uk - 1362819.jpg, Wave Chamber, Hexham File:Destroying Angel Sage.jpg, Destroying Angel Sage by Chris Drury File:Horizon Line Chamber.jpg, Horizon Line Chamber, near

Sunderland Point Sunderland, commonly known as Sunderland Point, is a small village among the marshes, on a windswept peninsula between the mouth of the River Lune and Morecambe Bay, in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England. It was used as a por ...

, Lancashire File:Inside - photography made inside the Horizon Line Chamber, Morecombe Bay.jpg, Photograph made inside Horizon Line Chamber by Chris Drury - using it as a camera obscura

''Carbon Sink''

In 2011, Drury's outdoor artwork titled ''Carbon Sink'' created controversy when it was installed at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

and was ultimately censored. The sculpture was constructed of coal and burned wood and was intended to highlight the link between climate change and

environmental issues in Wyoming The U.S. state of Wyoming faces a broad array of environmental issues stemming from natural resource extraction, species extirpation, non-native species introduction, and pollution. Wildlife species that have been affected by these issues include ...

, and the specific issue of Wyoming forests extensive infestation with

pine beetle ''Dendroctonus'' is a genus of bark beetles. It includes several species notorious for destroying trees in the forests of North America. The genus has a symbiotic relationship with many different yeasts, particularly those in the genera '' Cand ...

. Complaints were received by the president of the university, Tom Buchanan, from members of the public, mining executives, Republican lobbyists and other representatives of energy industries who were aggrieved that the university displayed the sculpture whilst receiving considerable funds from state taxes.

Tom Lubnau Thomas E. Lubnau II (born December 12, 1958), is an American politician and lawyer who served as Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015. He served District 31 as a representative in the House from 2005 to 2015 as a membe ...

, Republican

speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives The Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Wyoming House of Representatives. The Speaker has historically been a member of the majority party who is the ''de facto'' leader of their party. The current Hou ...

, stated he would attempt to ensure "no fossil-fuel-derived tax dollars find their way in the University of Wyoming funding stream". The sculpture was removed on Buchanan's recommendation, with the initial reason given as water damage, which the later release of Buchanan's emails contradicted. Subsequently, legislation was passed that means any proposed artwork at the university must "reflect Wyoming's history of transportation, agriculture and minerals" and be approved by the Wyoming Energy Resources Council, made up of local energy executives, and by Republican governor of Wyoming, Matt Mead. The university was criticised for backing down in the face of commercial pressure, with one professor describing the artwork's removal as an "explicit and abhorrent act of censorship".

Selected exhibitions

*2010 ''Mushroom Cloud – Installation and Videos'' – Arte Sella, Italy *2010 ''Water, Land and Language'',

Taigh Chearsabhagh Taigh Chearsabhagh is an arts centre and museum in Lochmaddy on the island of North Uist, Scotland. Taigh Chearsabhagh was built in 1741 and originally used as an inn; it has since served as a post office, house and workshop before being develop ...

, Lochmaddy, Western Isles *2011 ''Land Water and Language'', Dovecot, Edinburgh *2014 Chris Drury, Lloyds Club Gallery *2014 Chris Drury – Mini retrospective and installation – Oppland Art Centre, Lillhammer, Norway *2015 ''Exchange'' – 15 – 31 August. A Cape Farewell project with writer Kay Syrad about 3 farms in West Dorset. The Exhibition, includes a large leather bound book and several works on the wall representing a years research. The Fine Foundation Gallery, Durleston Castle, Swanage. *2016 ''Earth'' – 10 March – 3 April – A one man show at Onca Gallery, Brighton

Selected bibliography

* Also . *''Land Art'' (2007) – Ben Tufnell, Tate Publishing *''Chris Drury Mushroom, Clouds'' (2009) Anne M Wolfe Centre For American Places/University of Chicago Press ISBNB-13:978-1-935195-02—3 *''Song of The Earth: European Artists and the Landscape'', (2007) –Mel Gooding and William Furlong, Thames & Hudson Ltd.; Published in USA as Artists Land Nature, Harry N. Abrams *''The Ethics of Earth Art'' (2010) University of Minnesota. Amanda Boetzkes *''Antarctica – Exhibition Catalogue'' (2012) – Chris Drury, Philip Hughes, Bea Maddock,

Anne Noble Anne Lysbeth Noble (born 1954) is a New Zealand photographer and Distinguished Professor of Fine Art (Photography) at Massey University's College of Creative Arts. Her work includes series of photographs examining Antarctica, her own daughter's ...

Sydney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

, Jan Senbergs, Jorg Schmeisser – Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University. *''Art and Ecology Now'' (2014) – Andrew Brown – Thames & Hudson *''Exchange'' (2015) – Chris Drury and Kay Syrad -Handmade, A2 Leather-bound book, in an edition of 3, published by

*''Exchange'' – Chris Drury and Kay Syrad - hardback small version of above published by Cape Farewell and Little Toller Books in a limited edition together with inserted artwork: *''Exchange'' – Chris Drury and Kay Syrad – Paperback version of above – published by Cape Farewell and Little Toller Books:

Awards

In 2018, Drury was awarded the Lee Krasner Lifetime Achievement Award by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.