SculthorpeStudios

Tracing Systems

The work is structured through designed participation, where form emerges through constraint, collaboration and environmental conditions.

Outcomes are not predetermined, but generated through interaction within a defined system.

The project was shared across stakeholders’ social media channels. View external engagement.

Phase 1: Collaborative Land Art

Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, UK. Feb – Mar 2026

Participants fill the large Human Mandala pattern with natural materials in the Storey Gardens at Staunton Country Park.
Participants collaborate on a land-art activity in the Storey Gardens during Phase 1 of Tracing Systems.
A group works together outdoors on a collaborative land-art installation at Staunton Country Park.

The Human Mandala

Storey Gardens, Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, UK. Feb – Mar 2026

Participants celebrate the first templates placed into the stone outlines of the Human Mandala.
Participants stand among carpet circles and raise their hands during the Human Mandala activity.
The group gathers around the completed Human Mandala in the Storey Gardens at Staunton Country Park.

Mud Hands: Signatures for Authorship

Storey Gardens, Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, UK. Mar 2026

A participant shapes mud and willow materials during Mud Hands: Signatures for Authorship.
Close view of hands pressing mud onto a surface during the Mud Hands collaborative activity.
A participant works with mud and materials at a table during Mud Hands: Signatures for Authorship.

Explore the collaborative foundations through 1.1A Human Mandala, 1.1B External Engagement, 1.1C Tracing Systems – Red Gloves and 1.1D Tracing Systems – Mud Hands.

Phase 2: Describing Systems with Torus Sculptures

Ashling Park Estate, West Sussex, UK & Staunton Country Park, Hampshire UK. Apr – May, 2026

Vine Torus Armature Method – take a look at the video

Participants work with willow to form a torus as part of Tracing Systems.
Dawn Sculthorpe-Hayter outdoors at the Tracing Systems site during a material and sculpture study.
Participants weave and shape willow together during the torus sculpture phase of Tracing Systems.

Phase 3: Co-Authored Torus Sculptures

Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, UK. May 2026.

Participants work together with woven torus forms during the co-authored sculpture phase.
Woven willow toruses arranged outdoors during the collaborative Tracing Systems project.
Participants gather with the woven torus sculptures created through the Tracing Systems process.

Vertical Tracing Systems – trials and maquettes

Staunton Country Park, Hampshire and Monks Hill Reserve, Westbourne, West Sussex, UK Feb-April 2026

A vertical willow form and its supporting structure during a Tracing Systems materials trial.
An upright woven willow maquette developed during Vertical Tracing Systems trials.
An experimental vertical willow construction in the landscape during early Tracing Systems development.

Phase 4: After the System – Public Sculpture Installation

Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, UK. May 2026.

Dawn Sculthorpe-Hayter stands in front of the suspended willow toruses at Staunton Country Park.
Tracing Systems suspended among trees at Staunton Country Park on installation day, 14 May 2026.
Tracing Systems on installation day, photographed from the fixed monitoring point beneath the red-leafed beech.

Phase 5: Durational Systems Observation

Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, UK. May – Oct 2026.

Two children sit on suspended grapevine toruses during public interaction with the Tracing Systems installation.
August 2026 view of the woven toruses, showing rings opening and vines becoming thinner through continued weathering.
View of the Tracing Systems public Field Station, where visitors could follow the sculpture’s changes over time.

Stakeholder Report

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External Engagement

We have had a lot of external media coverage and online conversation about this project in 2026. Take a look at our external engagement.