Meet the artist: Richard Long

Join our best known Land artist Richard Long for a rare opportunity to hear about his work from the artist himself.

“My work operates on all different scales, from a fingerprint to a thousand miles.”

Richard Long is known for his walking sculptures, mud drawings and installations made from natural materials. His approach to landscape questions what landscape art can be. Born in Bristol, Long has a history with the city, making early works on the Downs and starting his art training here. Walking, time, space and distance have been the subjects for his art since he created A Line Made by Walking in 1967. This photograph of the path left by his feet in the grass, a fixed line of movement, proposed that art could be a journey.

Long still lives nearby and continues to make work around the Downs and the Avon. He has made work across the globe, from Alaska to Antarctica. Some of his sculptures are in such remote places that nobody will ever see them. Some of the sculptures will simply fade away.

“If I’m on a walk that’s taken me near an old work I might go and check it out. Quite often, they’ve completely disappeared.”

Join Richard to hear about his journeys through art.

Main image: Richard Long, Delabole Slate Circle, Bristol 

© Richard Long

With thanks

We are very grateful to The National Gallery for sponsorship of the events programme through their NG200 celebrations of the gallery’s bicentenary. This event is part of a programme to accompany the National Treasures: Constable in Bristol “Truth to Nature” exhibition at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.