THE GREEN MAN by Jim Bennett The Green Man is an ancient symbol standing in one tradition for growth and plenty and apart from the occasional public house sign you might think it has little to connect it to the modern world. But on Merseyside recently I came upon the work of two men one a sculptor, Tom Dagnall and the other a poet, Dave Ward. Each of them has grasped the Green Man as a symbol which figures repeatedly in their work, either overtly or as an influence. Many artists have used the Green Man as a symbol for the growth and rebirth of the world and in a time seen by many as a Millennium the potency of the Green Man as a symbol cannot be overlooked. On a hill not far from where I live, Tom Dagnall, a sculptor, spent several months constructing a modern earthwork. It was made solid yet flexible by putting in a framework of tyres, wire mesh and stakes. When this was finished the whole thing was covered with grass and left, so far for about two years. Now the mound looks like part of its environment, but it is the shape of a young female figure lying on the hill and looking out into space. Tom Dagnall called it Stargazer though it is known locally as Tilly after his daughter on whom it was modelled.
Stargazer became a focus for me. I loved the idea, the core of discarded material which in turn reflected the hill on which it stood, which had been a landfill site. I find the idea of bringing natural elements together in a sculpture which will blend art with its environment and in turn become part of it, very powerful. I see this blending as a new form of environmental art which has grown from decades of awakening awareness to the danger to the environment. But the earthwork covered in grass is also the Green Man gazing out forever into space and to the future. So for me this is a very optimistic piece. The natural world has always been a rich source of inspiration for artists, and projects are emerging in many art forms which brings the artist closer to the subject and the subject and the art together. Environmental art is the fusing of these two elements and it is the conscious use of their art by the artists to express themselves and their relationship with their environment which creates new possabilities. Tom Dagnall is an artist who often creates his art from the surroundings, and importantly it is art which does not diminish his subject or his material but rather helps it to achieve a potential which although it there from the start took the artist to recognise it and set it free. A boulder for example stays in place and is reshaped with a face gazing out across the Beacon Fells to reflect other aspects of its nature and surroundings. In many ways it is an art which recognises and pays homage to an earlier time but using modern references. This form of environmental art draws on the earliest tradition of the cave painters who drew their aspirational hunting scenes. Some believe this was a form of magic, a way to visualise and therefore influence the outcome of a hunt. Perhaps there is still a need for human beings to express themselves in this way to touch something at their core. After all cave painting has evolved into numerous strands of art, the wanted and the unwanted, some of which is recognised as art and some seen as graffiti. But visual art is not the only expression this environmental art finds today. Poetry has long sought to find a voice which would carry the same impetus. About a year ago I attended a poetry night in Liverpool and amongst the poets reading was Dave Ward who performed a poem called The Green Man Dances. This piece originally written as a poem to be read or spoken has found a new expression as a part song part chant piece which in the confines of a subterranean room in Liverpool stunned everyone with its clarity and vision. Dave was one of the founders of The Windows Project and remains as the person running it on a day to day basis. The Project seeks to bring the community and its writers together in unique creative events. It acts as an interface between groups and writers and where a school or a group express the intention of having a writers workshop, Dave will attempt to find the most suitable person to meet the workshop needs. The Windows Project works with visual and performance artists, musicians, writers, poets and story tellers to create unique synergies of creative art and events where children and adults can explore their own creativity. I recall working on a Windows summer scheme where I was sat at a table in an inner-city park, and children were invited to write a poem or story which they could illustrate. The joy expressed in the children’s work and the references to the natural world they could see around them could not have been achieved to the same extent in a classroom or community centre. Tom Dagnall also works with children in schools and workshops, bringing in portions of trees that the children can carve and work with in a very tactile way. The relationship between human beings and the natural world is far more obvious in children. In many respects Windows is an extension and another example of Dave’s own art. Dave is a poet and his poetry is unique. It is rooted in the popular poetry scene of the 60’s and 70’s but it transcends the self-conscious self interest that all but the best of that time descended into. When I read or hear Dave’s poetry it is like hearing the whisper of the same Muse that drives Tom Dagnall and perhaps that is the secret of their work. Their Muse is older than recorded time it hints at magic and mystery beyond the everyday, as Dave writes in THE GREEN MAN DANCES
This is a poem which draws on the roots of human experience and explores the relationship between people and the world they inhabit. It is a poem which like much of Dave’s writing resurrects and reassesses ancient symbols and sees in the everyday the echoes of tradition and rite. In the Green Man he had touched and recreated the same myth as Tom Dagnall. It is a word sculpture something which goes beyond the immediacy of the post-modern and which uses the images of the realists in a magical way, yet it also is too close to the source of practical knowledge to be magical realism. This is poetry rooted in the core of our being, we hear it and its truth, in that respect it becomes real. It is the poetry of a new age a poetic which attempts to deal with mankind’s relationship to their world by reassessing what we know or think we know and by digging out the roots of fable and legend as sources of human truth. We have in many respects reached a point of contact with the primal roots of art where the artist looked in awe at the world around them and used art to create a magic which would help bring order and control to their world. Both Tom Dagnall and Dave Ward in their own way have reached this point of accommodation with the world. Both will ultimately change the way people who come into contact with their work view the world around them. Tom’s work is romantic, forward looking and ultimately strengthened by his view of the dignity of the working man, woman or child. And the Green Man is seen as the guardian with whom we share the world. Daves work is bleaker, realist with a streak of optimism but at the same time sounding a warning.
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