"Our ancestors came out of the open forest more than a million years ago, and we compulsively return, maybe in search of our origins." Richard Mabey, Jerwood Open Forest catalogue.

The inaugural Jerwood Open Forest exhibition examines art in the environment and what it has the potential to be in its broadest definition. This unique, multisensory exhibition of new work charts the five selected projects over a six-­‐month period of research and development.

Juan delGado, Adam James, Amanda Loomes, artist duo Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt) and Chris Watson collaborating with producer Iain Pate, have expanded on the concept of their ambitious proposals, engaging with forest sites across England. In doing so the artists have produced exciting new bodies of work comprising sculpture, film, audio, and performance.

From these artists, two works will be awarded a £30'000 commission on 11th February. Until then, all the work will be exhibited at the Jerwood Space for the public to view and the panel of judges to asses. Here we talk about the ambitious project with judge Hayley Skipper, who is also Curator with the Forestry Commission England.

Run-Riot: Your role is a relatively new one - how did it come about?

Hayley Skipper: My role came about as we established Forestry Commission England's national 'Forest Art Works' programme as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding between Arts Council England and Forestry Commission England. This was established in 2012, to help bring great art and culture to everyone across England's Public Forest Estate. I now lead the Forest Art Works programme, as well as curating the Sculpture programme at Grizedale Forest in Cumbria, the UK's first forest for sculpture. Yes I am the first arts professional to work directly for the Forestry Commission. I moved up to Grizedale Forest from London when I took up the role in 2007. I am still based there, although I now regularly travel all over the country to different forests and often to London. Mainly I work with Forestry Commission teams at different sites across the Public Forest Estate, and all of the amazing artists and fantastic organisations who we work with in partnership to create and deliver all of our projects, as well as our partners Arts Council England.  

Run-Riot: What are you tasked to do?

Hayley Skipper: My role is about making it possible for really great art to happen in the Public Forest Estate. Essentially I am an enabler. It is really all about finding different ways for arts organisations to collaborate with us to create really exciting new opportunities for artists to make new work for audiences to experience. Creating opportunities for new work to be made in forests is at the heart of everything. My work is all about bringing together people and resources to create projects that can make this happen. Day to day I am involved in everything from site visits to forest locations, meeting with artists, fundraising, curating and lots of project planning!  

Run-Riot: Please pardon the phrasing, but how was Jerwood Open Forest initially seeded?

Hayley Skipper: I was invited to curate an exhibition at Jerwood Space as part of the Jerwood Encounters series of exhibitions back in 2011. I worked on this with my colleague Antony Mottershead who joined Forestry Commission England on the DCMS Jerwood Creative Bursaries Scheme around the time we were establishing Forest Art Works. The exhibition that we curated, TERRA was really well received both at Jerwood Space in London, and when we toured it to Grizedale Forest in Cumbria.

Following this Shonagh Manson, Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and I started exploring ways in which we might be able to work together further. The Jerwood Visual Arts programme includes a range of transformative opportunities across artforms for artists at key early stages in their careers. Given that we were looking at our national programme through the establishment of Forest Art Works it felt like a ripe moment to work in a way that we never had before and open up the Public Forest Estate for artists to make proposals in any medium. We thought a great deal about how this could work, and, as there were no other opportunities for artists already out there quite like this - in terms of how open they could be - we felt that it would open up new possibilities for creative responses.

Never having run anything quite like this before we couldn't be exactly sure what level of response we would receive but interest in the project was higher and broader than we could have dreamed of!

Run-Riot: When shortlisting the artists, what were you looking for?

Hayley Skipper: We were very clear that we were looking for bold and ambitious proposals and that we were open to artists’ ideas. We were looking for exciting ideas rather than fully developed proposals as the supported R&D period was there for artists to develop their proposals further and explore feasibility. We wanted artists to have the opportunity to really explore the potential of the amazing places that the Forestry Commission looks after, and the knowledge within the organisation. The R&D period has been a very collaborative process with the shortlisted artists working with Research Scientists, Ecologists, Foresters and Wildlife Experts. I have learned a huge amount through the whole process!

Run-Riot: The final five works of research will be exhibited at Jerwood Space for us all to enjoy. Two of these will be selected to receive a £30'000 commission to develop their work further. When will the finalists be expected to unveil their finished work - and where might they be?

Hayley Skipper: Yes the exhibition is going to be fantastic - everyone is showing new work and so it is great to see it all coming together now. The selected commissions will be announced on February 11th 2014. Where and when it happens depends entirely on which project is selected. They are all very different and proposed for possible locations up and down the country. There are short films about each of the artists and their work on the Artists' pages on the project website jerwoodopenforest.org

Run-Riot: Which is your favourite London park?

Hayley Skipper: I love all London Parks! There are so many brilliant green spaces in London, including some young forests that have more recently been created, such as Jeskyns and Thames Chase. My favourite has to be Wimbledon Common as I lived near there for a long time before I moved. There are so many great spaces on the common; there are always people picnicing, walking the dog and cycling and it's big enough to get lost in! Also the Wombles of Wimbledon Common were early adopters of recycling and a great inspiration - my favourite programme when I was a kid! I studied Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art, now part of the Univeristy of the Arts London, and I also worked there too before I joined the Forestry Commission; for several years I organised an annual exhibition with students in Cannizaro Park, which is part of the common and a real hidden gem. So it really does feel like my spiritual home in many ways!

Run-Riot: What's the greatest threat to England's Forests - and what can be done to look after them?

Hayley Skipper: I feel that the greatest threat is that we don't appreciate the role that trees and forests have in our lives. It is so important that we understand this and protect forests' sustainability. Global awareness of sustainable forestry is essential.

Run-Riot: What's the best part of your job?

Hayley Skipper: Every day is different! I get to work with amazing artists in incredible places and I love helping to bring fantastic art to new audiences.

Jerwood Open Forest
Juan delGado | Adam James | Amanda Loomes | Semiconductor | Chris Watson and Iain Pate
jerwoodopenforest.org

15 January – 23 February 2014
Jerwood Space
171 Union Street
London SE1 0LN