Cast stone artwork installed
Richard Dawson of Arbarus and myself have finally got the Bromley Farm cast stone artwork installed! Consisting of three ‘totems’, the artwork was designed by young people from Bromley Farm in Congleton and features their artwork and cast hand shapes. The artwork spells out ‘Bromley Farm Community Centre’, with each letter created by taking a subject or item relevant to the area and incorporating this within it’s design. For example, the ‘B’ features a bear’s paw, which comes from a local story regarding a dancing bear.
The young people came up with the idea and created the original lettering in a series of creative workshops over the summer. Molds were then taken from their artwork to turn it into cast-stone panels to fit within the three pillars.
Hyde Park Community Orchard Mosaics
Toad
I’ve only just got round to photographing (and uploading) some of the finished mosaic elements from the Hyde Park Community Orchard public artwork. The insects, birds and animals shown here are just a few of the mosaics created for the seating, wildlife discovery trail and pathway to the Orchard, all contained within an apple pip shape that formed a connecting element throughout the artwork.
Wasp
Swift
Red Admiral Butterfly
Nuthatch
Greenfinch
Honey Bee
Hyde Park Community Orchard Artwork – installation
Just before the build fortnight on the RHS Tatton show garden, I had 10 days in the rain (plus one dry day) installing artwork in the Hyde Park Community Orchard. Not ideal weather for installing a mosaic which is mounted on paper but we soldiered on and (almost) got everything finished.
First job was a dry fit of the classroom floor mosaic to check it all fitted together onto the 3m concrete base. The mosaic was separated into 27 sections, so it took a bit of work to make sure it all went together as it should.
Laying out the mosaic and cast stone ‘apple pip’ inserts for the Wildlife Discovery Trail sculptures…
Then the rain started…
We got the mosaic wording in on a dry Sunday with the help of Des…
But at one point we had two gazebos and three tarpaulins over the mosaic and they still weren’t enough to keep the rain out.
Richard Dawson was also installing his oak benches and banquet table at the same time. These were the holes for the foundations of the banquet table to sit in. There’s about a foot of water in them here… another couple of hours and they were full.
Still smiling… or is that grimacing?
Next Hyde Park Community Orchard post – the finished artwork!
Success! Hyde Park Community Orchard Artwork…
Last year myself and two other artists (Ann Gilligan and Richard Dawson) were successful in gaining a commission to create artwork (pending funding) for the Hyde Park Community Orchard in Hyde, Greater Manchester. Just before Christmas we found out the Community Spaces funding bid had been successful and we have now started the project.
The artwork will include an outdoor classroom, a wildlife trail and an entrance feature all informed by work produced in sessions with local schools and community groups. The final pieces will feature a number of different techniques and materials including wood, cast-stone and mosaics.
There are lots of other things happening in the Orchard so keep an eye on the Operation Farm blog for more details. I’ll also be posting about the ‘art’ side of things regularly!
Being A Freelance Artist 