Woodland Sound - Woodland Colour (2024)
Diagramming the sounds of the Suffolk woodland
Woodland Sound – Woodland Colour is an audio-visual response to the Suffolk woodland for the Suffolk Reverie Art Prize, using the techniques of field recording and sound diagramming. The artwork diagrammatically explores sound recordings to expand listening beyond the auditory and into the visual.
Over three days in March 2024, Liz made field recordings in the woodland. She was listening out for animal sounds, earth sounds, human sounds and tree sounds which, combined, reveal an audio portrait of the woodland. Two recordings were then selected for diagrammatical analysis.
In recording 1 listen out for rustling leaves and creaking branches:
In recording 2 listen out for a woodpecker, a robin and a lawnmower:
Whilst in the woodland, Liz foraged for tree and plant material to make pigments and inks to print these diagrams.
She found hawthorn leaves, fallen birch bark, oak galls, nettles, dandelions and daffodils – from which she made:
• Light yellow from the hawthorn leaves.
• Pink from the birch bark.
• Black and brown from the oak galls.
• Beige from the nettle leaves.
• Green from the dandelions.
• Bright yellow from the daffodils.
In the diagrams, different sound sources are represented by different woodland colours. The pitch of the sounds as they change over time creates the shape of the diagrams.
Diagram 1 is a one second audio moment when a hazel branch creaks, visually explored through woodcut printing with ink made from birch bark.
Diagram 2 is a two and a half second audio snapshot of a woodpecker, a robin and a lawnmower, visually explored through screen printing with pigment and ink made from hawthorn leaves, birch bark, and oak galls.
The Suffolk Reverie Art Prize was commissioned by Fox Yard Studio in collaboration with Modece Architects.
For the prize, six artists were selected to create artwork inspired by a 5-acre woodland site on the Suffolk Coast from March to May 2024.