Tag Archive | Dove Stone

Withy Bees at Dove Stone Reservoir

Last week, myself and Richard Dawson spent a very wet Monday installing a memorial bench (Richard’s work) and then some withy bees (my work) for the RSPB up at Dove Stone Reservoir in Saddleworth.

Kate from the RSPB came along to help. Bonnie, one of her dogs, thought the best place by far to sit was on top of me, whilst I was keeping the base of the bench in place. At this point, I’m slightly worried that all the other dogs are going to think the same thing!

September 19, 2013

It’s all about the RSPB this week…

Last weekend we had a lovely arts event at Dove Stone Reservoir, organised in collaboration with the RSPB. Alongside specially composed music (played by Saddleworth School Brass Band and Greenfield Brass Band), there were lots of things going on, including dance, visual arts, poetry, wildflower planting and leaf printing.

Richard Dawson created some gallery style plinths that showcased artworks responding to the amazing landscape and environment at Dove Stone Reservoir. These included a piece of gritstone, some water, a section of peat, acorns, a bumble bee and some honey bees.

He also installed some tree drawing machines, whereby drawings are created by the movement of the tree’s branches in the wind.

RSPB-Richard-Dawson-setting-up-a-tree-drawing-machine

(For more of Richard’s work, have a look here)

Alongside facilitating a drop-in leaf printing workshop, I created some large-scale withy honey bees which were displayed in the wildflower meadow overlooking the reservoir.

September 16, 2013

in Mosaics, Public Art
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RSPB Wayfinders – installed!

Last week myself and Richard Dawson spent a day at Dove Stone Reservoir installing the new RSPB Wayfinders. Made from solid oak, with CNC’d lettering and mosaic detail, the posts have been carefully designed and created to be sympathetic to the space at the same time as being useful! The mosaics all show flora and fauna found at Dove Stone and aim to inform visitors about local wildlife.

We had beautiful weather after a very wet Friday (nice soft ground) which made for a relatively easy installation, apart from the stones and the inaccessibility of some wayfinder sites by vehicle. Thanks to Sam and Joe who came and did some excellent hole digging and lumping of heavy things! And thanks to the lovely dog walker who supplied us with some wine gums in Binn Green car park.

Three blokes looking in a hole…

Richard, Sam and Joe at Chew Brook, Dove Stone Reservoir

Percival Fuzzington ‘helping’ by demonstrating how muddy it is

The wayfinder at Dove Stone Reservoir main car park. The profile of the signs represent the skyline of Dovestone Rocks and Wimberry (also known as Indian’s Head).