Art Based Research | Method

The characteristic scenic morphology of the Lionserpolder (De Greidhoeke, Friesland) has been the starting point for my art-based research, in which I make landscapes of felt, or feltscapes. Agrarian soil preparations by farmers and owners in this landscape with its clay terps have been analysed and connected with the artistic process. A feltscape is a depiction of the landscape that is constructed out of several layers of wool which have been made into felt, using water and soap. The stratification is created in the interchange between the making process, research into the landscape’s history and visual experience. In doing so, a parallel is created between the making process of the feltscape and the making process of the landscape itself.

Analysis of the scenic elements in their form, function and history entails that the landscape can hardly be viewed as a whole. Because of the analysis, the landscape appears to consist of separate elements, such as farms, terp mounds, banks, dams, plots and ditches. However, this research shows that the scenic elements are connected by focusing on the creation of land. By investigating in a greater detail the modifications made by farmers and owners, it becomes apparent that separate elements in the landscape are connected with one another as a meshwork.

This interdisciplinary method to landscape history has been created for the Landscape history MA-programme of Arts and culture at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.