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Walking with Wordsworth - A series of works informed by the Lake District walks taken by William and Dorothy Wordsworth

The series, consisting of 15 Sculptures, 5 Digital Prints and 6 Mixed Media visual diaries, developed Thompson’s approach to “embodied action” through walking as a methodology for interaction with landscape and a source for sculpture. He made a series of walks in the Lake District retracing the walking routes of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, (informed by David McCracken’s Wordsworth and the Lake District Oxford University Press 1984). The walks, recorded using GPS tracking, provided the source of the sculptures. The selection of materials was driven by the experience of the walks and the related poetry.

The works were exhibited in the exhibition ‘Their Colours and their Forms’ at the Wordsworth Trust Museum in Grasmere. The exhibition comprised new work by artists, composers and creative writers responding to Wordsworth’s life and poetry and the manuscripts of William and Dorothy Wordsworth displayed in the Museum and Trust Archive. Thompson’s work was shown alongside the manuscripts William Wordsworth held by the trust. The exhibition was seen by over 2000 visitors. At the invitation of The Wordsworth Trust Thompson gave a gallery presentation of his work to the International Winter School of Wordsworth Scholars.

Scholarly essays by Dr. Carol McKay (UoS) and Prof. John Strachan (Bath Spa University) contextualised Thompson’s work in the publication of the same name, published by Art Editions North and The Wordsworth Trust and distributed by Cornerhouse (ISBN: 978-1-906832-06-3).