The small forest’s guardians of Lisa Wright – interview

Preview interview from December print issue #15

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On the occasion of the Centenary of Forestry England, the largest association to manage British national parks, two artists joined for the celebrations, putting on a nature set in the middle of Thetford forest, the largest pine forest between the north of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk.

Tom Piper, designer, and Lisa Wright, painter, have created a magical atmosphere in which small children, guardians of the forest, protect its ecosystem.

In this December issue we find out more about artist Lisa Wright and her creative process. Known for her original paintings portraying childhood figures not yet adolescent, Lisa studied at the Royal Academy schools in London, then moved to Cornwall, where she still lives and works. Nature, with its seductive colors, is very often an inspiration of hers, as is the age of childhood and prepuberty, a period in which there is a change that cannot yet be defined as such, an age so fleeting and for this so pure and simple.

We will discover how the collaboration for Forestry England was born and developed and what was the purpose behind the centenary celebration, a moving moment to feel in communion with nature. Through Lisa’s words we enter into her world for a moment, accompanied by the curious eyes of her creations to discover the threads that connect the past to the future passing through the present and the role of art in bringing out an emotivity free from the chains of adulthood in symbiosis with nature.

The installation “Future Forest” was born from your collaboration with Artistic Director Tom Piper to celebrate the centenary of Forestry England at the High Lodge in Thetford Forest. Could you please tell us a little bit more about what was the starting point of the collaboration and why did you two decide to embark in this journey to celebrate such an important occasion?

Tom and I worked together in 2016 when he invited me to be artist in residence with the Royal Shakespeare company as part of the ‘Histories’ cycle of plays. When the opportunity to work on this Centenary project for the Forestry Commission was presented to us it felt like the appropriate project for us to collaborate again. Our proposal was that Tom would design the structures for each of the six installations and that I would create the life-size sculptures to be placed within them.