Follies for Follies Project
by Sabine Little
FOLLY – DEFINITION
noun
1.
lack of good sense; foolishness “an act of sheer folly”
2.
a costly ornamental building with no practical purpose, especially
a tower or mock-Gothic ruin built in a large garden or park.
It was while driving past a lone tower in
the middle of a field in 2011, that glass
artist Sabine Little was struck by the
idea of a cascade of tumbling glass hair
dangling, Rapunzel-like, from a window
high above. This vision developed into
a scheme to place temporary artwork in
12 follies around the country. We asked
her about her three year project.
Tell me about the concept for the Follies
for Follies Project, how did it all start?
I like work that is both whimsical, but, when you
start thinking about it, it is deeply conceptual,
and you can dig deep and discover more and
more about it. Follies - architectural follies,
that is - were built for no reason other than
18
IGNIS
the fact that somebody wanted to, and yet
they are steeped in history. Through creating
a sculpture which specifically focused on
the history of each folly, I wanted to draw
attention to them, and invite people to engage
with something they may have seen lots of
times before, but had never questioned.
You approached the Arts Council for
funding, what does that involve?
The Arts Council have a highly competitive
bidding process, you have to illustrate how you
will engage the public, that you have partners,
that your project will have a high impact, and,
to stand a better chance, you could illustrate
that the project will self-fund in some way,
rather than relying 100% on Arts Council
funding. You also have to submit interim and
final evaluations, financial reports, etc.