Andy Goldsworthy

My art is an attempt to reach beyond the surface appearance. I want to see growth in wood, time in stone, nature in a city, and I do not mean its parks but a deeper understanding that a city is nature too-the ground upon which it is built, the stone with which it is made. ”

Occasionally I have come across a last patch of snow on top of a mountain in late May or June. There's something very powerful about finding snow in summer. ”

People do not realise that many of my works are done in urban places. I was brought up on the edge of Leeds, five miles from the city centre-on one side were fields and on the other, the city. ”

Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood. ”

Three or four stones in one firing will all react differently. I try to achieve a balance between those that haven't progressed enough and those about to go too far. ”

It takes between three and six hours to make each snowball, depending on snow quality. Wet snow is quick to work with but also quick to thaw, which can lead to a tense journey to the cold store. ”

I am not a performer but occasionally I deliberately work in a public context. Some sculptures need the movement of people around them to work. ”

Photography is a way of putting distance between myself and the work which sometimes helps me to see more clearly what it is that I have made. ”

Ideas must be put to the test. That's why we make things, otherwise they would be no more than ideas. There is often a huge difference between an idea and its realisation. I've had what I thought were great ideas that just didn't work. ”

As with all my work, whether it's a leaf on a rock or ice on a rock, I'm trying to get beneath the surface appearance of things. Working the surface of a stone is an attempt to understand the internal energy of the stone. ”