The iconic Sycamore Gap has returned home, thanks to a Cumbrian artist.
The tree was felled in 2023 and the nation reacted with shock, outrage and sadness.
Standing along Hadrian’s Wall, the tree was more than just a landmark. Now, almost two years later, it is the centrepiece of a new free installation at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre.
The exhibit is the work of artist Charlie Whinney and the Creative Communities CIC collective and commissioned by Northumberland National Park Authority.
A section of the trunk stands upright and is surrounded by three oak benches, from which rise streams of steam-bent wood forming a canopy in the shape of a giant sycamore leaf.
Charlie, who is based at Witherslack, near Grange-over-Sands, said: “This commission has been the biggest honour of my career.
“The work has pushed and challenged my practice in every way – and completely changed how I view individual trees.
“I learned a huge amount getting to know more about the project and the amazing people involved, and we also used every single tool in the workshop.
“The work acknowledges a moment in time when the nation reacted to the felling of a single tree which is massively significant in a time when our culture is not so connected to the natural world we are all part of. We’ve used words people said at the time in the work arranged as a branching organic sculptural poem.
“I really hope what we’ve done in some small way allows the people of Northumberland and those who held this tree close to their hearts to process the loss they still feel from that day in September 2023, when the tree was illegally cut down.
“The work looks forward with hope, the tree is regrowing, and Sycamore Gap will always be a magical place to visit.”
The exhibit has been shaped by the public who cared deeply about it. As part of the consultation phase of the commission, the artists spoke with community groups and more than 300 schoolchildren.
Selected tributes have now been individually cut out of wood veneers made of ash, oak and walnut, flow from the floor in three streams, the dedications rise toward the canopy, forming new poems each time they’re read.
“This was the people’s tree and so from the start, we knew there had to be a public-led response,” says Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Park Authority.
“This artwork is a collective collaboration with and for the public and symbolises our deep and lasting relationship with nature. The original tree may be gone in the form we knew it, but its legacy remains, and what has come since has been endlessly positive, affirming our belief that people, nature and place cannot be separated and are interdependent.”
The commission was funded by Community Foundation North East.
The foundation provided £50,000 for the project, including from the North East Roots Fund, which enables people living elsewhere to give back to the region.
The Linden Family, Michael and Christine Heppell and Duncan and Sarah Davidson funds at the Community Foundation are also contributing alongside a dedicated gift from Nadara.
The exhibit is being unveiled today at a private event for funders and opens to the public tomorrow, Friday July 11 at 10am at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre.
This weekend, visitors can enjoy the exhibition then take a walk to the original site, where new growth continues to emerge, after it was first spotted last August.
