Artist Andy Goldsworthy works on a test boulder at Essex Farm in preparation for his Alderney Stones project. (0845515)

THE first ‘Alderney Stone’ has been created.

Leading British artist Andy Goldsworthy made his third visit to the island at the weekend to further research the Alderney Stones project and appeal to potential investors. He also found time to build a test stone at Essex Farm which has, so far, withstood the elements.

The assignment began earlier this year after Andy was invited to the Bailiwick by Guernsey’s International Artists in Residence Programme. He visited each of the islands before deciding to develop a project in Alderney.

Andy’s plan is to place between seven and 15 earth boulders in specific locations around the island. The structures, which will contain materials and objects, will adapt to circumstances depending on their location and eventually erode.

Cheshire-born Andy, who has developed similar projects in America, Canada, Japan and the North Pole, explained how the project is progressing during a special fund-raising reception at Fort Corblets.

‘This is the research stage. Until now it’s been about the ideas and figuring out whether they will work,’ he said.

‘The project is already pushing me into thinking about my own time, my relationship with the land and how things change. If I can get the project through to the stage when the structures are eroding, then that’s when the real rewards will start coming. That’s the only predictable stage.’

A significant amount of cash needs to be pledged before the project can begin but organisers are confident support will be forthcoming.

‘My intention is to come back and make the stones next year,’ said Andy. ‘I’ll have to spend about three weeks doing that but it will depend on whether the funding is here. If there’s no funding, then it doesn’t happen and that’s OK.

I would love to do this project but I’m also aware that some things come to fruition and some things don’t.’

He said the project needed a positive response from Alderney and the Bailiwick for it to happen.

‘I’ve done my bit and if it doesn’t happen, it’s been a very interesting and challenging process that will have implications on other projects and places I work in. It will not be lost; it’ll just go somewhere else in a different form. It would be great if it happened here, though, where the idea came from.’

Andy went on to explain what attracted him to Alderney in the first place.

‘I have many opportunities to work in private collections and museums, but I like and need the rawness of working in a place like Alderney, where you’re dealing with real context.

‘It’s not an easy ride and is a challenge. What I make here will be difficult for some people to deal with and will be difficult for me. There’s a fair amount of support but I’m under no illusion. A lot of people will think this is a waste of time.’

Andy believes Alderney is a place that breeds creativity.

‘It is marketed as being a place for recuperation and relaxation, but for people who live here it’s not that. It’s a raw, rough and challenging place that provokes ideas. It’s a seedbed for ideas and generating art. It’s a creative place to be, not a passive one, and I get very annoyed when places such as this are marketed as such.’