"His ambitious plan comprises a temporary artwork sited in the rural environment, visible from Newtown for hundreds of people to see during the winter months.

Using the land and rural contexts as his inspiration, Steve Messam aims to work collaboratively with local people during the production and presentation of his work to investigate relationships with the land. Most of the landscapes in the UK are the result of humankind's activity on them - shaping them through agriculture, extraction of minerals and transportation and taming them for recreation or aesthetics.

The notion of the natural landscape is a misleading one. This can be seen by the patterns which emerge as part of man's attempt to tame the land. The artist will work with people who shape the landscape, using their normal working methods and tools but making alterations to scale, pattern and shape, so that the work might reveal the mechanics of 'working the land' and the subsequent impact on the landscape.

Beyond Pattern (the exhibition and this commission Marking the Land) brings together artists from Wales and other parts of the UK who are investigating pattern as a social, cultural and political commentator that reaches beyond the purposes of ornamentation and decoration.

The overall project aims to investigate the utility of pattern and its consumerism, explore historical and contemporary ideologies, contrast the public and the private space and examine the activity and role of labour. Works are being brought together and developed to create discussion around ways in which pattern permeates our contemporary existence whilst referencing historical and cultural contexts.

Steve Messam is an artist and curator based in the North of England. As an artist Steve Messam has worked primarily outside the gallery environment for the past 15 years.

He has developed a particular interest in the cultural reference points inherent in living in rural communities and exploiting the assets of landscape, agriculture and community to challenge the preconceptions of contemporary rural arts practice.

He is also interested in space, the interaction of art and audience within those confines, the role of aesthetics and the physical experience."

Article by Alex Boyd