Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy (born 25 July 1956) is an English sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural or urban settings.

Early life Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire on 25 July 1956, the son of Muriel (née Stanger) and Frederick Allin Goldsworthy (1929–2001), a former professor of applied mathematics at the University of Leeds. He grew up on the Harrogate side of Leeds. From the age of 13, he worked on farms as a labourer. He has likened the repetitive quality of farm tasks to the routine of making sculpture: "A lot of my work is like picking potatoes; you have to get into the rhythm of it."

He attended Harrogate Secondary Modern and Harrogate High schools. then from 1975–1978 at Preston Polytechnic, now the University of Central Lancashire,

In 1993, Goldsworthy received an honorary degree from the University of Bradford. He was an A.D. White Professor-At-Large in Sculpture at Cornell University 2000–2006 and 2006–2008.

In 2003, Goldsworthy produced a commissioned work for the entry courtyard of San Francisco's de Young Museum called "Drawn Stone", which echoes San Francisco's frequent earthquakes and their effects. His installation included a giant crack in the pavement that broke off into smaller cracks, and broken limestone, which could be used for benches. The smaller cracks were made with a hammer, adding unpredictability to the work as he created it.

In 2025, Goldsworthy held a major show in the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh to mark 50 years of him being an artist. When approached by the National Galleries of Scotland about doing a show, they expected Goldsworthy to focus on one of their outdoor spaces, instead he asked to have the use of the prominent city-centre gallery. The show featured a range of installations and photographs in the upper level of the gallery, plus a selection of earlier works including sketchbooks and videos in the lower levels.

Art process

The materials used in Goldsworthy's art often include brightly coloured flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs, and thorns. He has been quoted as saying, "I think it's incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can't edit the materials I work with. My remit is to work with nature as a whole."

Rather than interfering in natural processes, his work magnifies existing ones through deliberately minimal intervention in the landscape. Goldsworthy has said "I am reluctant to carve into or break off solid living rock...I feel a difference between large, deep rooted stones and the debris lying at the foot of a cliff, pebbles on a beach...These are loose and unsettled, as if on a journey, and I can work with them in ways I couldn't with a long resting stone." Goldsworthy's commitment to working with available natural materials injects an inherent scarcity and contingency into the work.

In contrast to other artists who work with the land, most of Goldsworthy's works are small in scale and temporary in their installation.

For his permanent sculptures like "Roof", "Stone River" and "Three Cairns", "Moonlit Path" (Petworth, West Sussex, 2002) and "Chalk Stones" in the South Downs, near West Dean, West Sussex he has employed the use of machine tools. To create "Roof", Goldsworthy worked with his assistant and five British dry-stone wallers, who were used to make sure the structure could withstand time and nature.

Goldsworthy is generally considered the founder of modern rock balancing.

Photography Photography plays a crucial role in his art due to its often ephemeral and transient state. Photographs (made primarily by Goldsworthy himself) of site-specific, environmental works allow them to be shared without severing important ties to place. According to Goldsworthy, "Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit."

Photography aids Goldsworthy in understanding his works, as much as in communicating them to an audience. He has said, "Photography is my way of talking, writing and thinking about my art. It makes me aware of connections and developments that might have not otherwise have been apparent. It is the visual evidence which runs through my art as a whole and gives me a broader, more distant view of what I am doing." In 2018, Riedelsheimer released a second documentary on Goldsworthy titled Leaning Into the Wind.

Personal life In 1982, Goldsworthy married Judith Gregson; they had four children together before separating. Judith later died in 2008. Ithaca, New York, USA

Sheepfolds Cumbria, England, UK

Stone House Herring Island, Victoria, Australia

Cairn (featuring the installation Storm King Wall) Storm King Art Center Mountainville, Cornwall, New York, USA

Stone River Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University Stanford, California, USA

Andy Goldsworthy Arch at Goodwood Cass Sculpture Foundation Goodwood, West Sussex, England, UK

Chalk Stones Trail South Downs near West Dean, West Sussex

Three Cairns Des Moines Art Center Des Moines, IA USA

Andy Goldsworthy on the Roof (featuring the installation Stone Houses) Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden New York City, USA

Andy Goldsworthy: Early Works A national touring exhibition from the Haywood Gallery England, United Kingdom

Drawn Stone M. H. de Young Memorial Museum San Francisco

Arches Gibbs FarmNew Zealand

The Andy Goldsworthy Project (including the installation Roof) National Gallery of Art National Mall, Washington, D.C., USA

Red sandstone wall at the Doerr-Hosier Center Aspen Institute Aspen, Colorado, USA

Hanging Trees Yorkshire Sculpture Park West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Clay Houses (Boulder-Room-Holes) Glenstone Potomac, Maryland, USA

Spire Park PresidioSan Francisco

Refuge d'Art Hiking Trail, Provence, France ProvenceFrance

Wood Line Park PresidioSan Francisco

Domo de Argila / Clay Dome Cais do Porto Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Tree Fall Park PresidioSan Francisco

Earth Wall Park PresidioSan Francisco

Walking Wall Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtMissouri

2 November 2025 Andy Goldsworthy Fifty Years Dalveen, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK

Publications

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