PASW Regional Newsletter: Autumn 2005
Focus On Current Projects & Issues
Langport Bridge, Somerset
The new bridge at Langport is a unique landmark structure designed by artist Richard La Trobe-Bateman and design engineer Mark Lovell. An established furniture maker, Richard studied at the Royal College of Art and has a variety of work in public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum. From his Shepton Mallet studio, Richard's focus on making structure visible has led to a series of gates, towers and bridges combining simplicity of construction and a minimum of materials. "The driving idea behind this bridge is to show as clearly as possible, how the forces in the structure operate: which parts are in compression, which in tension and how they are fixed to each other." Mark Lovell's design engineering practice specialises in producing innovative solutions to national acclaim as with his work on Will Alsop's Library at Peckham.
Drawing of Langport Bridge.
Richard La Trobe-Bateman and Mark Lovell Design Engineers.
The new bridge is an all-abilities pedestrian crossing of the River Parrett allowing residents and visitors to access the River Parrett Trail and riverside amenities safely away from the historic Bow Bridge and the A378 traffic it carries. As part of the project, an emerging young visual artist, Pandora Vaughan, has shadowed Richard. Working alongside the artist, engineer and other professionals, Pandora has gained a valuable insight into the design development process, helping her to develop her own project to enhance the near-by Staceys Court footbridge.
Completion of the £250,000 project is scheduled for October 2005 with a spectacular 'craning-in' of the bridge superstructure onto the 17 metre deep foundations piled into the flood defence earthworks on each side of the river.
John Brady, Public Art Officer, Somerset County Council
Public Art in Portishead
North Somerset's public art project is unfolding in Portishead, in conjunction with the new Port Marine development. A variety of artworks are springing up around the town, from a sculpture by acclaimed artist Ann Christopher RA to an imaginative 'timeline' pathway integrating light to reflect the movement of the tide. This project, entitled 'Fragments and Traces', gives different community groups the opportunity to contribute towards the wider public art programme that is unfolding in Portishead. The project is funded through a Regional Arts Lottery Programme Grant of £32,500 and sponsorship from Crest Nicholson, Knightstone Housing and the University of the West of England. Each group is working with different artists:
- North Somerset Youth Service - over two weeks in August, young people at Portishead Youth Centre collaborated with popular Bristol-based poet Ralph Hoyte and digital composer Stephen Ives to produce their own compositions fusing poetry and sound. The material produced was revealed to the wider community over October half-term, as part of a radio project entirely managed by the young people at the Youth Centre.
- Gordano School - from early 2005, students have been working with the internationally renowned figurative sculptor, Ian Gregory. The planned outcome is a series of abstract and figurative 'bird sculptures' that will be mounted on stainless steel poles and sited along the wildlife walkway. There is the opportunity for the wider school community to get involved in researching data for the project.
- Mencap Group - an ambitious project through which members of the MENCAP Young People's group will be developing their own pieces of work with Elizabeth Turrell, Director of UWE's Enamelling Research Centre, which is at the forefront of enamelling practice in the UK. Other arts media may be incorporated to make this a multi-sensory experience.
- Residents of Portishead Quays - a community based project sponsored by Knightstone Housing around the idea of 'memories'. This project will lead to a series of works for integration into the Quays Development. Residents will be involved in determining the artistic media and the appointment of the lead artist.
Kedrick Davies, Director CDN Planning Ltd and Urban Design Consultant to North Somerset Council says, "The public art programme associated with the regeneration area in Portishead is one of the most significant in the South West. Public art is an integral part of the development process and is contributing positively to the establishment of a new but very special area within the town.2
Mark Luck, Planning & Environment, North Somerset Council
Public Art in Weston-super-Mare
Travelling Light by artist Peter Freeman
Travelling Light is a gateway, beacon sculpture for Weston-super-Mare and the South West region of the UK. The project is funded by Locking Castle Limited and supported by North Somerset Council.
Travelling Light by Peter Freeman 2004. M5 Weston super Mare Interchange.
Photo: Peter Freeman.
Sited at Junction 21 on the M5 Motorway, 'Travelling Light' is a 13metre high glittering column of digital LED light that welcomes travellers to the South West. It has a different programmed colour arrangement for each day of the week, with individually programmed light shows for special calendar dates. During the week the sculpture gently scrolls through the colours with an added digital machine-gun sparkle. It throws up a river of pink hearts for Valentine's Day and simulated light fireworks for New Year. Other dates include electric snow for Chris tmas, cosmic colour patterns for summer and winter solstices, flames on Bonfire Night and space invaders on Halloween. 'Travelling Light' uses 2000 digital LED light pixels giving a total of 16 million colours, controlled via an ethernet, CPU and an astonomical clock. The sculpture is a 13 metre high mirror stainless steel structure. It is sited on a 15 metre man-made mould, giving a total height of 28 metres and making it visible from miles around.
Mark Luck, Planning & Environment, North Somerset Council
Public Art within Civic Pride
Perhaps the most significant new public art development in Weston-super-Mare is integrated within a major Civic Pride initiative developed in partnership with North Somerset Council and the South West Regional Development Agency.
The project called 'Connecting Spaces, Places and People' includes a masterplan drawn from commissioned Wayfinding, Lighting and Public Art strategies designed to enhance and improve the streets and public spaces within the town.
The Civic Pride funding will support an £11 million programme for 11 key projects to improve and raise the quality of open spaces in the town. These include enhancements at Big Lamp Corner, Knightstone Island, The Promenade, Grove Village and the Boulevard.
The improvements will include the introduction of pedestrian friendly spaces, landmarks, street furniture, lighting, pedestrian and cycle routes and improved signage.
Public art and design elements are integrated throughout all of the above initiatives. Alongside the commissioning of major iconic artworks, an 'Arts Approach' and vision is advocated throughout the developments, for example encouraging creative design input into shopfronts and signage, and commissioning creative input into landscape and streetscape designs. This has led to a much greater public art and design ëspend' than the one percent normally sought for such initiatives.
The first project to be completed will be Big Lamp Corner. Artist-led teams, including an artist, an architect, a lighting designer and a structural engineer, have been competing for a commission at this newly improved and reclaimed pedestrian area. The teams have been putting forward creative design proposals for a piece which will not only serve as an iconic artwork, drawing pedestrians down from the seafront, but may also function as an information hub, a kiosk and a lighting feature to replace the 'Big Lamp' which decades ago stood in the space.
Work will be completed by Spring 2006 and commissions on Knightstone Island, the next stage of improvement work, is already underway.
Mark Luck, Planning & Environment, North Somerset Council
Canons Marsh, Bristol
Situated in the heart of Bristol, Canons Marsh is one of the largest mixed-use regeneration projects underway in Europe. Crest Nicholson commissioned Edward Cullinan Architects to draw up a masterplan and, following extensive public consultation, an open and accessible scheme combining excellent public spaces with residential, business, retail, and leisure uses was approved.
Following the appointment of Tim Knowles as lead artist in late 2003, a clear understanding of the masterplan was gained ñ how the various areas would function, their different atmospheres and qualities and how people would use and move around the site. The Public Art Strategy was then devised, setting out a programme of contemporary permanent and temporary works and singling out areas where artists could be involved.
It was then a matter of matching the artists to the different sites or opportunities. All the artists work in the contemporary gallery arena and have varying levels of experience creating public works. They all have their own very particular aesthetics, styles, themes and areas of research. It is important that the artwork commissioned for Canons Marsh is core to the artist's practice. Artists selected so far include: Langlands & Bell, Richard Box, Simon Faithfull, Janice Kerbel, John Pym, Julie Verhoeven and Tim Knowles.
Tim Knowles
Western Bypass Public Art Project, Barnstaple
The Western Bypass Scheme in Barnstaple, North Devon, is one of the largest construction projects that Devon County Council has undertaken in recent years and one of the largest road schemes currently taking place in the UK. It will link the A361 Braunton Road with the A39 Atlantic Highway. The Taw Bridge, a major five span structure, over 400m in length and designed to carry the bypass over the River Taw, is included in the scheme.
Artist Patricia Leighton has been appointed to create artwork for the Western Bypass Scheme. Patricia, collaborating with artist Del Geist, developed concept designs for the proposed artwork, which were presented to the Project Steering Committee in the middle of July. The commission is now in a detailed design stage and it is anticipated that work will be completed by December 2006.
Patricia has been creating major large scale public art works in Europe and the US since the 1980s and, in 1992, was responsible for the 1,000 feet long earthwork, 'The Sawtooth Ramps' commissioned as part of the M8 road scheme in Scotland.
The commissioners, Devon County Council, asked the artist to design and produce high quality artworks that mark the entry points for the new western bypass. The vision is to create work that is graphic in its nature and sensitive to the context of the scheme.
Lisa Harty, Project Manager
Liveability Art for the Park
West Cornwall is one of only 27 local authorities to be awarded over £3 million, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Liveability Fund, to improve parks and public open spaces. Liveability will look at all areas, from pavements to parks, in the Kerrier and Penwith Districts, where the public has free access. A citizen's panel of over 1,000 local people in Kerrier identified five key sites for improvement, and it has been a key aim of the project to develop opportunities for creative and collaborative input from artists to add to the quality of the environment right from the start.
Liveability is looking at ways to lift the profile of local artists, increase their skills and begin to map creative activity in the area. One of the first projects has been the 'Art for the Park' competition. This was set up to enable local creative practitioners to gain experience of working as Lead Artists. It was soon obvious that there are very few opportunities in Cornwall for local artists to gain valuable experience of working in this way. A skills gap was identified, and rather than bring in artists from outside the county, it was felt that there was a wealth of talent locally that could be tapped into.
Heidi Dorschler leading a colour workshop with the Young Parents Group, Helston Youth Centre.
The Lead Artist's role has been a multi-faceted one and the artists have needed to be flexible and adaptable, sometimes working in challenging and complex situations, with not only the personalities of the design team but also the logistics of individual projects and the needs of the community that have to be considered and worked through.
The two Lead Artists appointed were Heidi Dorschler and Peter Hill. Both Heidi and Peter have worked at the Eden Project as artists-designers, have built theatre sets and have been performers with the Kneehigh Theatre Company. Fortunately for Liveability, both are extremely experienced artists with innovative approaches and have run community design workshops.
The first of the five Liveability projects is well underway at Coronation Park and the Penrose Amenity Area, Helston. Heidi, as Lead Artist, has been an integral member of the design team and has worked closely with the Landscape Architects Scott Wilson, to influence the concepts and designs for the park. This is the largest project with the most complexities, such as being on a flood plain! Heidi has also been involved in running community design workshops that culminated in two days of making art in the park. A display of the designs produced is planned for the autumn.
Councillor Malcolm Moyle, Chair of Kerrier District Council's Open Spaces Arts Steering group and the Portfolio Holder for Arts and Leisure said, "This is a great project that recognises the valuable contribution that the arts make to Cornwall's heritage and culture and the important role that artists have in involving the community. Creative workshops are a fun way for the community to influence the improvements to their local environment."
Sarah Williams, Liveability Officer, Kerrier District Council