Art historian, John Francis, our guest editor gives his weekly Top Culture Picks.

Let’s stay outdoors and visit another sculpture park. This one is nestling between the wistful River Wye and the savage River Seven.

The Forest of Dean Sculpture Park and Trail has a unique collection of world class, contemporary sculpture. 

The park boldly claims to have been ‘inspiring awe and wonder since 1986’. The sculpture trail has 17 sculptures with some intriguing titles: Raw, Echo, Iron Road and Heart of Stone.

VIEW New Film Commissions with disabled artist Kristina Veasey. Earlier work by Kristina includes ‘A Lone Rice Krispie, cleaner required, 2012', a photograph representing the disabled artist's domestic issues with housework, part of ‘My Dirty Secrets’ project. 

Kristina has a chronic illness and has to spend more time in bed than the rest of us. Her inspiring video is called ‘IF ONLY BEDS COULD FLY’ (8 mins). The main themes are solidarity and resilience within the heritage, landscape and people of the Forest of Dean. Unfortunately, the pandemic has got in the way of her project but in the video we see how Kristina has literally been weaving around the obstacles and barriers in her way. Her ‘forest bathing’ experiences take in dyeing, spinning, burning and sculpting directly from the forest. 

My Dirty Secret: Up the Lining © Kristina Veasey