Musical Art

This is called, 'The Singing Ringing Tree', a public Art work commissioned by Burnley CC, overlooking the Pennines in Lancashire.

I think that this is a beautiful example of a land sculpture,making the environment integral to the work - in this instance the wind. Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu.

There is another one which I came across, where the wind is used to create sound and this is equally as beautiful.

This one is called 'The Sea organ of Zadar, created by award winning architect Nikola Basic in 2005.

Solarium, Landform

These images are really interesting to me because they are much more innovative than some designs for public spaces. The using of the gradient in the hill - or building of earth to create a gradient. Both of the pieces below seem to be making a feature of the angles.

a+t Espacios Colectivos in common III, Solarium La Chappelle St-Luc, 2006 pg 26

In the 'Solarium' group, the bench, is created with strange angles in it and more obviously the scale, promoting different types of usage - for instance sunbathing, meeting with larger groups of people. Again this is much more unusual then the norm, and very aesthetically pleasing in my opinion.

http://www.civic.org.uk/burnley1.html

In PASW image the designer seems to have created a hill from flat land through adding earth, which I think is an interesting use of the space, creating a small amphitheatre with steps into the earth.

Bench Pictures

These images are some of the inspiration I used when thinking about the design of the bench.
As well as this I was aware of the recommended standard measurements that were generally employed in 'furniture design'. They suggest the most comfortable and safe positions for sitting.

Heartlands Bench CEC

For my CEC work placement with Kerrier council, I was asked to design a bench which potentially would end up inside the Heartlands Development alongside other artist commissions. I knew about the ‘call for submissions’ to artists back in December, but the projects were too big for me to consider applying for and as well as this I had a great interest in both sides of the commissioning process, from the artists perspective and also the commissioners.

The call for submissions sent out by KDC, contained about 7-8 commissions, all of which were to be placed within the new Heartlands Regeneration Project. The massive heritage of the heartlands site (being on of the most prominent tin mining areas of the region) meant that there was a huge amount of source material and history to draw from which could be fed back into the project.

Image taken from: Seams & Veins Artist-Maker Brief for Pool Village Commissions Dec 2008

Even before I had come to Falmouth, I had decided that one of the main focuses of the course for me would be to look into the mining history of the area, with a view to incorporating this subject into my research and finding ways that this could inspire work for me.

The title of my course is ‘Interior and Landscape Design’, and it is important to explore understand what this means to me. So far, the subjects which have interested me are things connected to public art, urban space, architecture, community, history… then things like anthropology, because that is a broad enough title to contain most other subject areas, and importantly the design process.

With this in mind, the Heartlands Project was a great way for me to experience a live ‘regeneration’ project that is focussed on the public realm, instead of a much more singular or individualistic approach, which is something I am more familiar with, this because my own experience is limited, and certainly does not extent to working on big projects as this.

So having known about the commissions since December I was really excited when after sending in my CV in the hope of getting some work experience KDC asked me to design a bench.

The council office’s role is concerned with the landscaping and upkeep of the Kerrier district area. Whilst at the offices, my role was to design a bench and also get involved in planning of public consultations, this meant putting together inspiration sheets which would have been used to stimulate discussion amongst local people about the kind of improvements or initatives that they would like to see put in place in the community. Alongside this I did a bit of illustrator work, this time information sheets for the local Dolcoath mine. At the time I was not familiar with AutoCAD, and because of this I could only put my designs onto paper.




Making the jump from drawing on paper and sketching my ideas down without really thinking about it, to drawing in a computer programme, was a bit of a challenge, and did feel like it wasn’t very worthwhile doing. But now I can at least open CAD without having a heart attack, and I would even say that I can successfully draw some lines.


The inspiration for the bench is taken from railway tracks found on the Robinson's Shaft site. The bench will be made from shaped rolled steel, and groves will be etched into the bench to create the impression of tracks. Placed underneath the bench for support is a piece of granite stone. Although I can see problems with the design, I do like the general idea. It is simple and I think that the railway track idea would not be lost on people. I am yet to find out KDC's opinion though.

If people are going to understand ideas and take them seriously then using a programme like AutoCAD enables for the expression of these ideas in a more universal language, and not only this but takes things from the ideas stage into a design stage, where ‘specifying’ materials and sizes take it that little bit closed to reality.




What remains in the heartlands site is a mish mash of old industrial buildings – mineshafts, big wheels, engine houses, all of which are in a state of semi ruin, contrasting this there is a huge area of wild flowers and green land, which over time has laid claim to the site(s) – hence the reason many of these areas have been designated ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’

In the industrial age this land would have been an eyesore and dangerously polluted, but now is quite beautiful in a run down industrial kind of way. In the heartlands site one of the things that remain, amongst other equipment is railway tracks, wagon would have been laden with ore and these been used to move ore from place to place around the site

VIEWFINDER National Monuments Record english-heritage.org.co.uk

One of the things that drew my interest to the railway tracks was to do with how they were used. Basically transporting ore from one location to another, on land and also beneath in the mines. Although we usually associate mining with men, in fact women were employed by the mines on the surface and worked at separating the ore that had been removed from within the mines, these women were known as ‘Bal Maidens’. Typically women were not allowed in the mines because of the dangers involved, but experienced no less hardship than the men.

“By 1800, there were 2,000 or more females employed in the Cornish mines, and at least 6,000
by 1851. Between 1720 and 1920, there were probably more than 80,000 females working in all
of the mine related industries in Devon and Cornwall”

Bal Maidens Cornwall and Devon

english-heritage.org.co.uk

Reading the statistics associated with the mining industry and more specifically the mortality rate, you begin to realise how dramatic and hard the miners existence would have been. There is a report that was written in 1842 by Dr Charles Barham who was a mine surgeon. In the report is a series of interviews that take place between himself and some of the Bal Maidens who worked at the mine. He describes their state of health and circumstances, each example makes for scary reading.

Jane Jewell, 21 years old (Truro, March 31st 1841)

She has worked a fortnight at Consols but found she could not continue. She
has always found the ‘bal’ (mine) disagreed with her which she attributed chiefly
to the mundic water. The smell made her sick when the water was warm. Her
father is a miner at Consols and is in a declining state, and is about 50 years of age.”

Children's Employment Commission Report of 1842 Interviews with Bal Maidens from Cornwall and Devon

The Industrial Railway Record No. 19 - p242-245 © June 1968

Although the land will have changed dramatically since the 1840’s the diagram above explains how the railways will have been used to move the ore from one location to another within the mine.

Cityscape

I don’t know whether I saw this on the net or in the library first, but I found Arne Quinze’s work really interesting. I quite like the principal, making an object out of lots of little things to create a form, which looks solid but in fact is not.

http://www.designverb.com/2007/09/19/cityscape-arne-quinze/

The process must be very laborious, I have always wondered how these designs are made, whether or not the object is planned from the placement and fixing of the first piece and then painstakingly followed right to the last, or simply cobbled together – by the look of Arne Quinze’s piece ‘Cityscape’ former would seem true.This piece was made to be placed in Brussels in conjunction with the premiering of the Mini Cooper on 14 September 2007. The shapes give the impression of being geometrically formed, not unlike a computer-generated image that has been reproduced. Though on Arne Quinze’s website the opening page contains a quote which states:

‘I love chaos, I’d like to freeze one of those sublime moments when the logic of
chaos, the only thing that is real, reveals it’s incomparable beauty and harmony.’

http://www.arnequinze.tv/#/en/home/

So it seems that his choice, would be to avoid this kind of comparison.

http://www.designverb.com/2007/09/19/cityscape-arne-quinze/

There is another similar piece he made called 'Uchronia', this was produced for the Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada 2006, and as the name suggests, the sculpture was created as a centrepiece and burned during the festival.

When I first saw his work it reminded me of Anthony Gormley’s piece ‘Quantum Cloud’ 2003 which was designed using a computer programme that randomly recorded points from an image of Anthony Gormley’s figure, these were then rearranged in 3D to form Quantum Cloud, which is 30m high and made using 1.5in steel rods.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pawoodhead/131007750/

Though I have not seen it apart from in pictures I think that the idea is very clever. I would imagine that it looks like a mass of metal rods, but then on closer inspection, the piece appears as a body within.

Going back to Qunize an interesting comparison, which he makes is the similarity of cityscape to a flock of starlings, a natural occurrence which creates awe in the spectator, and an absolutely stunning example of this was taken by photographer Richard Billingham, called 'Starlings Roosting on West Pier’ 23 October 2006.

When you observe the Starlings, the curves and the lines they make when they group together and then divide seem to create clouds across the sky which are in constant movement. They do somehow relate to to the idea of an 'organised chaos'.

A FLOCK OF STARLINGS:
The final result has the astounding precision of a startled flock of starlings,
that hangs still in the air, just for one moment, in perfect formation, before
dissolving in a seemingly chaotic pattern, but without touching each other,
in perfect control. It is a moment in which the DNA of disorder reveals it's
order. Elements or particles that seem to be organised at random suddenly
synchronise and combine into a revelation of the sublime.
City Scape, Arnie Qunize, pg 19

City Scape, Arnie Quinze pg73.

Bidonville view 03.04.09
http://www.arnequinze.tv/#/en/works/bidonville-view-030409/

I really enjoyed the trip to St Ives because it made me feel as though there were lots of other people out the like me who were just waiting to belong to something bigger than themselves, not like a church, more artistic like'.. So we sat and spoke inanely about art for a few hours, mostly public art.

My own belief is that placing art in the public arena is a very valuable thing. We often find that art is restricted to the gallery space where it becomes the refine of the elite, and therefore it seldom makes it's way into real world, which is surely what it is made for.

Because of this it may be true to say to make an artistic statement, that is recognised by enough people, including non-artists we should explore the idea of working outside of the gallery and stepping into the public arena.

After the St Ives trip I was thinking about competitions and how I have always wanted to win one (..ha ha). Well I have looked a lot into the idea of doing a residency abroad, going somewhere hot and making sculpture – but it always came back to the fact that I was too scared to apply, and a bit on the lazy side. I remember searching for the type of residencies available:

Scottish Sculpture Works - http://www.ssw.org.uk/
John Micheal Kohler Arts Centre – http://www.jmkac.org/
Artquest – http://www.artquest.org.uk

There are lots of residencies, on Artquest alone you can access a whole database of ongoing opportunities, it's great. I have to say that mostly this was wishful thinking on my part, but it did make me think that in the future I should give competitions a go even I have to concede and never apply for a competition again like Bruce Mau suggests, not to say I have applied for loads.. but who knows.

So when I saw the Wildworks www.wildworks.biz/ brief, I thought that I should give it a go, and sent off a creative CV. I chose to design the CV around my current ideas, I made it so that it would open out in layers and hopefully be exciting to look at.

The map folded into a small square which I put in a self seal plastic bag witch was meant to protect it, a bit like when you are walking you can put a map in a bag so it does not get wet. I then printed my CV onto the map itself and included photos and a cd of my work.

St Ives/Heartlands

On the 17th of November I went to the Tate at St Ives, for an event called ‘What’s coming over the Hill’, which was run by Creative Skills, of Cornwall and it was about placing art in the public realm.

There were four speakers,

Locus+ is a visual arts commissioning agency that works with artists on the production and presentation of socially engaged, collaborative and temporary projects, primarily for non-gallery locations. In each project place or context is integral to the meaning of the artwork. Project manager Matt Hearn represents Locus+. http://www.locusplus.org.uk/



Dave Beech is an artist in the collective Freee. He lives in London and teaches at Chelsea College of Art. He is a regular contributor to Art Monthly and is represented by the International 3 gallery, Manchester. http://www.dave.beech.clara.net/



Graham Gussin uses a variety of media including drawing, photography, sculpture, film, video and sound installation. He produces works that engage with the human experience of the infinite, creating situations that interrogate our perception of the real and its relationship to imagined experience. He was commissioned by Locus + in 2006 to produce Illumination Rig in Newcastle upon Tyne, a work which was also show in the 8th Sharjah biennale in 2007. http://www.grahamgussin.co.uk/


The Chair Alistair Snow who is a member of the Arts Council and also a director for artist newsletter [a-n] magazine.

The above information was taken from Creative Skills http://www.creativeskills.org.uk/

All of the speakers were actively involved with placing their art in the public realm. A lot of the work was time based, performance art and site specific. And all of the work was somehow about challenging convention. Locus+ was an example of a funding body, which were not restricted by councils, who have their own agenda and instead pushed artistic boundaries providing the public a more realistic version of art today.

A topic, which was raised for discussion, was about the ‘quality’ of public art, how much of it seemed to be ill considered. Using the example that the artists applying for commissions often have their ideas diluted so that they are palatable or more generic, this may be partly to do with art needing to fulfil certian preconceived expectations.

The talks were very interesting, and relevant to Cornwall because Cornwall has recently been given a cash injection by private and public investors. The money will be spent on a massive project of regeneration within Cornwall namely ‘Heartlands’. Lots of initiatives have been put in place with the aim of introducing new business and culture into the area raising the economy and perception of Cornwall so it is on par with the rest of the country.