Richard Bracken Artist

 Working with the Abriachan community as part of Artists and Community Landowners. Listen to a podcast on the project here.

The collection of 16 engraved walking-sticks created as part of the Artists and Community Landowners commission is the endpoint in a process of research, engagement and making.  It is also a beginning; an invitation for the hand and the land to connect, and a prompt for new journeys, stories and conversations.

In working with Abriachan Forest Trust, my aim has been to understand how the different generations see their place in their land, and to explore themes of journeying, custodianship and growth.

Inspired by tales of old Abriachan sticks and encouraged by the Trust’s appetite for developing and sharing skills already present in the community, the accessible, traditional craft of stick-making became a natural focus for the project.  Through walks, workshops and conversations with community members of all ages, I was able to learn about the land itself and the things that resonated with its people.

Stick-making engenders care; for the tree you harvest from, for the drying, the making and the straightening or the bending.  A stick that is borrowed or entrusted must be looked after, sticks can be passed to others; and it was with this in mind that the idea of forming a collection for communal use developed.

Each stick is dedicated to a different aspect of life at Abriachan Forest Trust.  The text (laser-engraved onto the sticks by Abriachan resident Simon Baker, of Evergreen) is a distillation of conversations, research, observations, moments and hopes to which people will have their own unique response.  At different sizes, the collection hints at the generations journeying together and the possibility that today’s children can ‘grow into’ the larger sticks, looking after them as they will the land.

With special thanks to Hugh Sutherland.