The Field Journal: Will Beckers

I ran across the work of Will Beckers the other day and really loved his work… it's similar in some ways to the work of Patrick Dougherty but it has a lot of it's own unique quality….

I think he's Dutch… or Belgian… in whichever case he speaks dutch so I can't really understand what he is saying in most of his videos about his work… but they are gorgeous even if I can't understand him lol...

Here's the blurb I found on his bio page off his website:

Will Beckers is an Art-in-Nature artist and sculptor, specialized in creating "green", living sculptures, and installations, using living organic material. Will has been working with "RAW" materials for the past 25 years. HIs love and respect for Nature started at a young age, he grew up in a family devoted to plant nurseries and floristry.

"I follow my passion by listening to the material, in this way art and nature are fused together. I interpret the processes of growth, life, metamorphose, decay, death and rebirth in my installation work."

An environmental artist - his work is an ode to Nature, he respects it and works in symbiosis with the natural world. His fascination with the macro world around us, is evident in his work. He challenges us to become aware of our surroundings, simple things we miss as we rush about our daily lives.

Will’s cradle to cradle environmental artwork; is often a living sculpture, growing organisms that stimulate us to challenge the relationship between individuals and our environment, he is confronting Nature with her own materials.

“I am a part-time artist, the other part of the time Nature does the work.” he says.

Will works with the local community, involving local children as an added ingredient to his land art projects. The children work with natural materials on location and are thus taken out of the comfort zone of the classroom, and their creativity is encouraged.

“Nature speaks its own language”, states Will, “This is a wonderful quote taken from a fascinating book, which I read when I was 14 and I have never forgotten it. From that moment on I knew I wanted to learn that language, now, so many years later, I am still following that same path; exploring, listening, seeing, but most important of all, learning from everything that grows and lives around us. We are part of Nature and her own language, there is an undeniable link. We should be speaking that language - the universal language.”

The exploitation and deprivation of man and the ever increasing gap between rich and poor around the globe, is mirrored in the exploitation and deprivation of nature and the our planet.

A sustainable way of life and improved living conditions on earth, can be assured with the reconciliation of mankind and the forging of a harmonious relationship between man and nature.

New forms of living can be achieved by solidarity between ourselves, and a sense of working in a community, in this way sustainable forms of life can evolve and new environmental technologies can become powerful tools to achieve this end. Working with natural materials in a positive, interactive, cooperative, and diverse way is the first step to making this a reality.