Rivers and Tides

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy lives in Penpont, a small village in the glorious rolling countryside 40 minutes from Dumfries in Scotland. He moved there in 1986 because it was cheap, living first in a small flat until he and his family – he has four children – moved into this house that was designed with much of his work literally embedded in the walls.

We meet in his office, adjacent to the house. "I do not have a studio; the outside is where I work." He does have a drawing studio nearby that has plans of potential projects, many of them abroad, pinned on the walls.

Sitting with Goldsworthy, I am aware of the surroundings, the light on a tree outside the window, the leaf works ranged around us. It is as if his observation has permeated my looking. After our conversation, I feel the need to look more carefully at my surroundings. "That is all there is," he says. "Seeing what is there."

Goldsworthy owns one field outside his home but makes his work in the adjoining fields. He started working as a farmer's apprentice in his teens. "Farming was as important, if not more important, than art school as a training ground," he says. "Learning how to work hard all day is a really important thing."

Personal life

In 1982, Goldsworthy married Judith Gregson. They had four children and settled in the village of Penpont in the region of Dumfries and Galloway, Dumfriesshire, in southwest Scotland. The couple later separated. He now lives there with his partner, Tina Fiske, an art historian whom he met when she came to work with him a few years after he separated from his wife.

Awards

• 1979 – North West Arts Award

• 1980 – Yorkshire Arts Award

• 1981 – Northern Arts Award

• 1982 – Northern Arts Award

• 1986 – Northern Arts Bursary

• 1987 – Scottish Arts Council Award

• 1989 – Northern Electricity Arts Award^[5]

• 2000 – Appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Rivers and Tides

Rivers and Tides is a 2001 documentary film directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer about the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, who creates intricate and ephemeral sculptures from natural materials such as rocks, leaves, flowers, and icicles. The music was composed and performed by Fred Frith and was released on a soundtrack, Rivers and Tides (2003).

The film received a number of awards, including the ‘Best Documentary’ awards of the San Diego Film Critics Society and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. It is an Anglo-German co-production by Mediopolis Film and the British independent film company Skyline Productions.

In 2018, Goldsworthy, Riedelsheimer, and composer Frith released a follow-up documentary, Leaning Into the Wind.