REGIONALLY based contemporary art organisation Meadow Arts programme –funded by Arts Council and the Elmley Foundation – brings striking world class pieces of artwork to the county at no cost to the public.

The latest piece to be unveiled is Barcode: FB184 by Philippa Lawrence located at the Forestry Commission-run Mortimer Forest in north Herefordshire.

Barcode: FB184 uses the barcodes from wooden dowelling of the type sold in hardware shops and places the barcode formations on individual trees at High Vinnals.

Philippa refers to how the individuality of each tree contrasts sharply with the uniformity of the commodity that it becomes and asks the viewer to think about their own relationship with the landscape and the environment.

Philippa will also be running a participation workshop for all ages at the site in May, details of which will be announced later.

Another of the pieces in the Public Commissions programme, Witness Tree by the artist collective Brass Art, was recently the subject of a literacy based workshop in conjunction with Herefordshire Council’s arts learning officer Annie Millen, at which children from Madley Primary School worked with award-winning novelist Ian R MacLeod to explore the visual and mythical connections of the Witness Tree with the medieval Coningsby Hospital.

Last week Arts Council England announced that Meadow Arts had been selected as a National Portfolio organisation, with funding secured for three years from 2012. The news means that Meadow Arts is in a position to plan for new exhibitions and public commissions to build on its previous successes.

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