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Artist StatementI am a sculptor and environmental artist whose main interest over the last few years has been in Art in Public Places. I have worked throughout the U.K. as well as overseas in both urban and rural landscapes, indoors and outdoors and have made sculptures which have been both permanent and temporary. My sculpture is site specific in that it relates totally to the site taking into consideration the architecture, the landscape, the history, economy or mythology of the area. I use a wide variety of materials relevant to the project - wood, stone, bricks, steel, bronze, planting, rope, sand, water, glass, light, plastics, even feathers, silk flowers and drinks cans, etc. and enjoy working on both large and small scale. Because all the work I do is commissioned and frequently on a residency basis, both temporary and permanent, I have a wide experience of working with landscape architects, planning permission applications, fabricators, engineers, quarries, brick works, health and safety regulations, administrators and the concerns of the general public. I am very good at deadlines, budgets both large and small and the vagaries of climate and very much enjoy collaborative projects. My sculpture projects have had many aspects: they have been used for seating, e.g. for the Norfolk Naturalists Trust in Foxley Wood and for the Rochdale Development Agency as well as major projects at Monash University in Melbourne, Leeds University, Israel, and Canada. They have been sited in parks, schools and a hospital, in the grounds of museums and stately homes and even floated on a canal. They have also used industrial artefacts - such as Victorian wrought iron gates for the Greenfield Valley Sculpture Trail in Holywell organised by Cywaith Cymru in 2000. For St. James' Homes in Surrey within a new housing development at Worcester Park incorporating a park I have designed two amphitheatre- type earthworks to create informal seating and an area for games, performances etc. "Enjoy, View and Use",. The amphitheatres are constructed from the spoil from the development of the houses and seeded. Recently I have been commissioned to redesign a village green in Willersey, Gloucestershire, - "Fruitscape", in collaboration with landscape architects, Reckless Orchard, and have completed two sculptured roof gardens, "Look, Reflect and Recover" 1 and 2 for Gateshead NHS Trust for the new North East NHS Surgery Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, using stainless steel and glass, working with the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, to create the illusion of fountains, pools and rivers. "A River for the Botanic Gardens" for the Royal British Society's Centenary Exhibition is currently within the Harold Martin Botanic Gardens, without a river, in Leicester University, and "Deux Lignes de Couleur dans l'Eau" - yellow and red fluorescent painted stones on either side of the river changes the normal perception of the area temporarily, is in Saint-Flour in France for Chemin d'art. In 2003 "Stones of Life - Journey of Silver" was sited on a roundabout at Wharton CE Junior School in Winsford, Cheshire, which used three large granite stones to represent the salt mines of the area connected with stainless steel which represents the hopes and aspirations of the children. "Garden of Achievement", 2004, at Newall Green High School, Wythenshawe, Manchester was also completed a science/nature garden in conjunction with Key Stage 3 Geology. The same year I made "Doors of Perception", with seven old doors painted blue and five walls of peat blocks - created areas for people to meet and pass through for "PeatPolis.nl " in Holland, in a peat land now a leisure area and museum of the old workings. In June 2004, "Marquer d'une Pierre Blanche" for "Les Doigts d'Art" in Salins-les-Bains, France - was about the town's salt mines and the first Credit Agricole bank which developed due to the money generated by the salt. In 2002, I participated in the Okanagan/Thompson International Sculpture Symposium, in Penticton, BC, Canada, where I made "Play, Perform and Picnic" a sculptured park with two crescent-shaped earthworks with neon lighting under glass blocks at the inner curves forming an informal performance space and sitting areas. At the other end there are three large galvanised edged circles of colour co-ordinated rocks on coloured gravels for sitting and playing on. In 1995, at Leeds University, I redesigned the Chancellors Court to incorporate my sculptures. "Meet, Sit and Talk" is intended to be used - for sitting, for meeting at and to create a socially interactive space. The planting was designed by Allan R. Ruff a landscape consultant with whom I have previously collaborated. I was a visiting Lecturer on his MLD course at Manchester University for five years which was an invaluable experience. I also designed the reconstituted stone benches for the courtyard now being used around the university. In 1999 I collaborated on the Roof Garden of the project in the landscaping by John Micklethwaite-Howe of BHWB of Leeds, which is adjacent to the area I worked on and have made a sculpture, "Conversation" to create a link between the two areas. This project has received two commendations from Architecture 2000 awarded by Leeds City Council. A major earthwork commission, 200m x 100m x 20m, in Bristol in 1999 and is within Cribb's Causeway Shopping Centre adjacent to Filton Airfield and was managed by J.T. Baylis & Co. Ltd. The sculpture, "Earthwork Olympus" is based on the fan blades of a jet engine and incorporate planting, a path and a viewing area with designed wooden seats. This also utilised the spoil which produced in the development of the commercial buildings. Completed in 2003, is a commission with South Gloucestershire Council and originally with Sustrans. "The Chain and the Wheel", adjacent to the last link of the Avon Ring Road which opened in September 2001, is 600 metres long by 90 metres wide and rises about 15 metres. It used 150,000 cu. metres of landfill/spoil from the road excavations, and incorporates cycle tracks, footpaths and seating areas. The planting has also been carefully designed and will gradually mature over the next few years. As consultant to U.K. Waste Management Ltd, now Biffa, In the North West to redesign their landfill sites in 1997, I worked on ideas for 12 sites, all encompassing leisure activities - some will include earthworks and specially designed sculptures, others will incorporate play parks, sports areas, tracks for roller blading, skate boarding, running, cycling etc. and all will have areas for sitting, picnics and watching the wildlife. A couple of the sites are managed by Groundwork with whom I worked closely. Nothing has yet been achieved but when I ask about them, the plans are still relevant! Maybe one day? Whilst taking part in a temporary project in Christchurch, New Zealand, I was asked to submit two design proposals for a landfill site and a water treatment area at an estuary in Christchurch. The majority of my ideas have been incorporated into their master plans. |
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