The 2000 season was an astonishment for the variety and quality of its offerings. For me the months following that brilliant summer were to be immersed in an unhealthily obsessive examination and consideration of its spectacular formations. That work produced a DVD, number 7, The Pi Hypothesis and The Big Triangles and it is appropriate (as will be made clear) to re-examine some of that material here.
Read More1994 was a year of surprises and innovations. The Scorpions and the Thought Bubbles were among these and seem to have been largely overlooked despite their historical importance. The first of this group, the Scorpion, arrived opposite Silbury Hill on 22nd May 1994. By 1994 we had not had many figurative formations and this was quickly felt to be a scorpion.
Read MoreThere were two sibling sets, pairs or virtual twins which occurred in consecutive years, 1998 and 1999. The first pair, Clatford and Furze Hill explored the circle while the second pair, Windmill Hill and West Kennett dealt with squareness. These sets shared a specific and unique characteristic. The standing part of the design in one formation was laid down in its sibling and similarly, the laid crop in the first was switched to standing in the second.
Read MoreHindsight, of course, is the most accurate of sciences. When writing about the Honey Street Lobsters formation I said, talking about two-stage formations, “after every phase, the design seems considered, poised and finished in its own right. There is rarely a sense that the formation is incomplete and awaiting an addition or expansion.” I was wrong. The beautiful Milk Hill formation of 6th July (just one mile north of the Lobsters and just one day after the lobsters second hit) was deliciously expectant from the moment it arrived.
Read MoreSeven is considered to represent spirit, revelation, the eternal feminine and that which lies behind the veil. Eleven is the first number of the Master Number series that is said to indicate degrees of contact and interaction with other dimensions. Given these credentials we cannot be surprised that these two noble numbers choose to hold themselves slightly aloof from such as the ordinary fours and nines.
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