Tag Archives: Artist

Salisbury District Hospital 2006

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern

I am always trying to play catch-up with projects I completed prior to having any online platforms. Here we are, almost 13 years since its completion and installation and I have finally managed to track down a great set of images, which were commissioned by Tarkett Flooring (actually it was Tarkett Marley back in 2006). The images were originally commissioned by PR Firm Mainspring from photographer Ian Blantern of Blantern & Davis Photography.

Ian Blantern retrieved the images from his archive, for which I am really grateful.

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Images Screenshot. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern

In 2004 I was commissioned by Peter Ursem, a former director of the Artcare Team at Salisbury District Hospital to collaborate with project team Architects, Chapman Taylor and Contractor Gleeson. The brief was to create bespoke flooring installations throughout the four levels of the new building, combined with creating interior colour schemes to assist in wayfinding and identity. I collaborated closely with Tarkett Marley Floors throughout the design and manufacturing period on sonic cutting and installation methods.

Salisbury District Hospital Phase Two 2006 Chapman Taylor Architects. Project Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern

“The planned move of services from the older southern end of the Salisbury District Hospital site to a new modern purpose built facility took place in May 2006. The new building which was designed using the views of local people and staff houses the regional burns service, elderly care and orthopaedic wards. It also has an outpatient department with plastic surgery, maxillo facial outpatients, laser treatment centre and therapy services. This was the largest development seen on this site since Phase One of the hospital was built in1993 and means that these services now have natural links with the acute and diagnostic services in the newer part of the hospital. The new burns accommodation is situated on level four and has its own dedicated operating theatre. It is located near the Intensive Therapy Unit so that it can access critical care support for people with serious burn injuries. Orthopaedics has its own purpose built accommodation and this is located on level four of the new building close to main theatres. Plastic surgery and maxillo facial outpatients has its own department on level three, so that it links in with general outpatient and diagnostic services on the same level in the existing hospital. Medical and elderly wards are situated on level two, with two elderly care wards taking the vacated ward areas in the existing hospital that are next to the Nunton Unit, which provides physiotherapy. In designing the new building, the aim was to maximise natural daylight and ensure that patients in ward areas can enjoy excellent views across the Wiltshire countryside”. Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

 

The designs were inspired by abstract forms in the Wiltshire landscape – ephemeral and or suggested elements as seen from the Hospital. This included ancient and historic man-made stone circles at Avebury and Sarum, crop circles, dew ponds, Fovant Badges, plough lines and field patterns. I also looked at Downton lace making, the architecture and decoration of Salisbury Cathedral and the flora and fauna of a chalk and limestone landscape. Engagement with staff and patients was also undertaken. The installations were made at major node points such as nurses stations, waiting areas, key vistas and in the window seating areas of the 4-bed bays. The patterns break up the generous expanses of floor, providing an element of surprise and distraction for patients and visitors alike. All floors share a limited catalogue of motifs, but these are expressed via individual and distinct colour palettes on each level. Levels 1 & 2 share an set of earth and terracotta tones representing chalk marls and ploughed fields. Level 3 uses shades of green reminiscent of summer and farmland and woods, whilst on Level 4, blues and lilac colours reflect shifting skyscapes.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Material & colour-ways sample boards. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

What am I proposing?          

Looking at Wiltshire: A patchwork of pattern, texture and light

Designs inspired by man-made forms in the landscape –

Earthworks: Avebury – Old Sarum – Silbury Hill

Crop Circles

Dew Ponds

Chalk Drawings: Wiltshire Horses and Fovant Badges

Ploughing patterns

Field patterns

Designs inspired by local history, industry and architecture –

Downton Lace

Salisbury Cathedral

Medieval Ceramic Tiles

Romano British Mosaics

Celtic Patterns

Designs inspired by the unseen & ephemeral in the landscape –

The geology of Wiltshire

Fossils of the Chalk Downland of Wiltshire

Associated Flora and Fauna: Horseshoe Vetch and Adonis Blue

Fleeting expressions of light in shadow play

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding – inspection during installation. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 3 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 3 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 3 colour way-finding – inspection during installation. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Material & colour-ways sample boxes in progress at Clockwork Studios. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Research images taken at Salisbury District Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Research images taken at Salisbury Cathedral 2004. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Material & colour-ways sample box for Levels 1 & 2 in progress at Clockwork Studios. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Material & colour-ways sample box for Level 4 Burns Unit in progress at Clockwork Studios. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Research images taken at Salisbury Cathedral 2004. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding – inspection & cleaning underway during installation. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding – inspection & cleaning during installation. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Production Drawings of bespoke motifs by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Production Drawings of bespoke motifs by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Waste Materials from manufacturing at Tarkett Marley factory, Lenham, Kent. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Production Drawings of bespoke motifs by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding. Sample Panel by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

 

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 3 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography
Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Typical Production Plan Drawing of bespoke motifs & sites for Levels 1 & 2 by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.
Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Detail: Typical Production Plan Drawing of bespoke motifs & sites for Levels 1 & 2 by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Typical Production Plan Drawing of bespoke motifs & sites for Level 4 by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Typical Production Plan Drawing of bespoke motifs & sites for Level 3 by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding – inspection during installation. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

2005, design stage consultation event. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

2005, design stage consultation event. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Production Drawings of bespoke motifs for Levels 1 & 2 by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 3 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Levels 1 & 2 colour way-finding. Artist Christopher Tipping. Image: Ian Blantern Photography

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006. Material & colour-ways sample boxes in progress at Clockwork Studios. Artist Christopher Tipping.
Research images taken at Salisbury District Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Research images taken at Salisbury District Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Salisbury District Hospital 2006, Level 4 colour way-finding. Sample Panel by Tarkett Marley. Artist Christopher Tipping.

 

The Robert White Centre

 

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

I spent Monday & Tuesday of this week in Dorchester at the new £9million Robert White Centre, based at Dorchester County Hospital. This building was part funded via a legacy from Robert White a Poole based businessman, who was treated for cancer at the Dorset Cancer Centre at Poole Hospital. Robert died in 2015.

 

“Proceeds from the sale of this incredible collection will be used to build new cancer facilities at Poole and Dorset County hospitals, benefiting patients across the whole of the country.”

“Robert White was a great man and an enthusiast of all things mechanical. The sale is a showcase of his life’s passion, with more than 500 lots set to raise more than £2 million for charity,” said Malcolm Barber, Bonhams Co-Chairman. “The collection is the result of a life’s passion for photography – Robert was the founder of one of the UK’s leading photographic retailers – and his adoration for motorcycles. We’re delighted to be able to offer this for sale, and for such a great charitable cause.”

“The money raised from the Robert White Collection will help to fund essential improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment in Dorset, including:

– New cancer treatment radiotherapy facilities at Dorset County Hospital to benefit patients in the west of the county, meaning shorter travel times
– New computerised tomography (CT) scanner for Poole Hospital, accurately identifying cancer site to enable targeted treatment
– Permanent positron emission tomography (PET) scanner at Poole Hospital – a sophisticated imaging technique widely used for cancer, providing highly detailed imagery showing tumours and its response to treatment.
– Education and training bursaries to enable staff working in cancer care and associated medical and diagnostic specialties to remain at the cutting edge of best practice”.

Bonhams 2016

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

I was there to begin some engagement with staff and patients in the ground floor Radiotherapy Unit, which is a satellite of the Dorset Cancer Centre at Poole Hospital.

I was very kindly shown around by Amanda Sydenham, Macmillan Prescribing and Review Radiographer/Treatment floor Superintendent, and introduced to other staff members.  We were accompanied by Nikki Mitchenere, Deputy General Manager – Oncology Legacy Fund at the Dorset Cancer Centre, who has commissioned me for this work.

I am now starting to work up some draft ideas and proposals. These will be circulated throughout the unit so we can get feedback from everyone. The important thing is that we do this in a collaborative and engaged manner.

 

Obviously, whilst there I took a quick look upstairs to see how the artwork in Outpatients was being received by everyone. I was re-assured after talking to a couple of staff members there, that this seems to be a great success. The artworks for Radiotherapy, will build upon this established colour base and iconography, adding in some new motifs and objects. It is important that the work on both floors appears to have a relationship, with elements interwoven between both floors.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

A slightly blurred and abstract image taken from outside, of the first floor windows reflecting surrounding trees & a street light mixed up with the artwork. The weather was atrocious all day, with rain and high winds – not the best backdrop.

These digitally printed glazing artworks, commissioned by Arts in Hospital for the first floor Haematology Outpatients unit were installed in December 2018, just prior to the official opening of the Robert White Centre.

This unit is managed and operated by Dorset County Hospital.

 

We had a wonderful endorsement for the art project from Patricia Miller, Chief Executive of DCH.

‘I really love this. It creates such a pleasant therapeutic environment that also links to Dorset’s natural surroundings. Thank you for working so hard to create such a pleasant environment for our patients.’ 

 

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Team Proto

Our work with David & Richard at Proto Studios in Pewsey, Wiltshire has now come to an end.

Sadly, this week saw our final visit to Proto Glass Studios to see the completed glazing sealed units before they leave to be installed in the new RNHRD and Therapies Centre at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. The new unit is being delivered by Kier Group with IBI Group Architects. This artwork production of 46sqm of beautifully decorated and finished, screen-printed, sandblasted & etched artwork manufactured by Proto Studios, which will enhance the architectural curtain wall glass screens for the new Hydrotherapy Pool within the Therapies Unit was commissioned by Art at the Heart. A massive thank you to David & Richard Proto and all the glass technicians at Proto Studios who had a highly skilled hand in delivering this work. It has been a really rewarding collaboration.

The panels are due to be installed in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed for a hassle free installation…watch this space!

 

Composite mirror image: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Composite Mirror Image 7: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Above: Safe in skilled hands…glass technicians carefully present each of the 18 double glazed sealed units for us to see.

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Composite mirror image 6: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

A beautifully crafted thing…

Chatham Placemaking Project – A beautifully crafted thing…

Granite & Laminated Radius Timber Street Seat. New Cut, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Since starting the Chatham Placemaking Project, I am proud and pleased that much of the work we have done has been wonderfully crafted.

Words can be beautifully crafted to capture the essence of meaning, or a point in time, the spirit of a place. Materials too can be made to speak and assembled with care into something meaningful and poetic.

The writer, filmmaker, designer and poet with whom I have worked and collaborated on the project have all brought experience, originality, humour to the table, but above all they have brought an ability to assemble what they know & what they have created into a beautifully honed and finished thing – a sentence, a film, a poem, a pattern.  These people are highly skilled. Andrew Lapthorn, a craftsman and furniture maker working from the Historic Dockyard has produced perhaps one of the most beautiful objects created for the project. His laminated Elm radius curved seat – part of a collaboration with me to create 6 granite and timber street benches – has now been installed at New Cut, Chatham, one of two radius timber seats.

 

Granite & Laminated Radius Timber Street Seat. New Cut, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Granite & Timber street bench. Honed monolithic granite with stainless steel armrest by Hardscape.

Public spaces – especially those well trafficked, endure heavy duty wear and tear. These seats have been manufactured from robust and tough materials. This timber element was constructed from 45 layers of laminated mature English Elm, which was generously donated to the project by the Historic Chatham Dockyard from the equally historic Timber Seasoning Sheds. Each layer may have 2 of 3 individually sawn planks. It is a brilliant piece of work and very beautiful. It speaks loudly to me and is exemplary of the experience and love of making, which all the artists and creatives involved in the project have instilled in their work, often quietly and unseen. Andrew Lapthorn’s seat, encapsulates so much that has been done by us all in gathering our base material, spending time with it, mulling it over, discarding what doesn’t work, before finally committing to its final form.

 

Granite & Laminated Radius Timber Street Seat. New Cut, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Andrew has documented his work over many months and has given us access to the archive of images. Some of them are astonishing. Again, worth repeating, that his process reflects all of our various processes in various forms, making various outcomes. It is all about craft, mixed with experience, originality and passion. I will be making a longer post about this work.

 

Granite & Laminated Radius Timber Street Seat. New Cut, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Granite & Laminated Radius Timber Street Seat. New Cut, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Granite & Laminated Radius Timber Street Seat. New Cut, Chatham. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

 

 

Stumped: Elephants on Dumpton Park Drive – Animal Thanet 2019

Stumped: Elephant herd marooned on Dumpton Park Drive

These images are part of the ongoing Animal Thanet project and installation / performance, which considers & reflects wider concerns I have for the  natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, trophy hunting, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a real-time catastrophe for the world around us. 

A recently removed tree provides a stump as a refuge and island platform for these Elephants marooned above the pavement on Dumpton Park Drive. Habitat loss is a major issue in Elephant conservation. Human population growth means encroachment on wildlife. Loss of trees and forests leaves space for wildlife diminished and in smaller and smaller pockets or ‘island’ reserves. EleAid 

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Elephant herd marooned on a tree stump. Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Crocodiles on Elms Avenue – Animal Thanet 2019

A haul-out of Nile Crocodiles – Crocodylus niloticus on Elms Avenue, Ramsgate.

These images are part of the ongoing Animal Thanet project and installation / performance, which considers & reflects wider concerns I have for the  natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, trophy hunting, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a real-time catastrophe for the world around us. 

 

Crocodiles haul out on Elms Avenue trailer. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Crocodiles haul out by a rainwater pool caught in the tarpaulin of a trailer parked on Elms Avenue.

 

Crocodiles haul out on Elms Avenue trailer. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Crocodiles haul out on Elms Avenue trailer. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Crocodiles haul out on Elms Avenue trailer. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – Animal Thanet 2019

A walk from Herne Bay to Birchington at Low Tide with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant – February 2019

These images are part of the ongoing Animal Thanet project and installation / performance, which considers & reflects wider concerns I have for the  natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, trophy hunting, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a real-time catastrophe for the world around us. 

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Oryx and an Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Above: Arabian Oryx – Oryx leucoryx at Herne Bay

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Oryx and an Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Above: African Elephant – L. africana at Herne Bay

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Oryx and an Elephant. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Oryx and an Elephant. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Views towards Reculver.

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Oryx and an Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above & Below: Oryx at Minnis Bay

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Oryx and an Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Above & Below: Small tidal sea bathing pool at Minnis Bay

 

 

Herne Bay to Birchington – A walk with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant at low tide. Animal Thanet 2019. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018

My Garden … May 2018

 

These images consider & reflect wider concerns for the  natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a catastrophe for the world around us. 

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Herded – Animal Thanet 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Spritsail Barges of the Medway…and other Rochester Riverside Stories (2 of 3)

‘Mr Gill showed me a very fine model of their barge Centaur, a 50-tonner built by Messrs. Gill & Son, specially for the 1899 Medway barge Race, in the astonishing time of 6 weeks.” 

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

In his wonderfully evocative book ‘Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway’, published in 1948, Edgar J March paints a highly detailed picture of Barge activity and life on the Medway. Many of these Barges started life in the boatyards of Rochester.

“Staunch and well built though a barge may be, each year sees a toll taken. Some yield at last to the cold embrace of the sea, whose caresses they have so long resisted, others steal quietly up some lonely creek to nose gently into the malodorous mud and settle down into their last berth, gradually to moulder away, forgotten by all save their one time masters, and perhaps, some sentimental fool like myself, who will gaze down on their rotting timbers and imagination see spars clothed with red-brown sails and hulls vibrant with life as they thrash there way round the Foreland.” 

Describing the excitement and thrill of the Medway Barge Races – “The course was from Hoo Marshes to the West Oaze Buoy and back to the Sun Pier at Chatham, a distance of about thirty five miles…A strong easterly wind was blowing, and in Long Reach Verona’s bowsprit snapped off short, but the crew cleared away the wreckage and setting a jib topsail as a staysail, carried on to come sixth in their class.” Edgar J March. 

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

Referencing a painting by T.B. Hardy, 1874, Edgar March goes on to describe the Medway as, “When this picture was painted, marine artists had little need to look for subjects. The Medway was alive with sailing craft : dainty little topsail schooners, picturesque collier brigs with apple bows and dingy canvas, barques from Scandinavia, bringing pine-scented timber from the Baltic to Rochester, and above all, barges innumerable, threading their way through the maze of traffic. One hundred a tide was no uncommon sight, and what a joy to a sail-lover that galaxy of russet, brown and ochre canvas must have been, many with various devices emblazoned on their mainsails – Lees’ stumpies had the white horse of Kent rampant on ebony coloured sails – all either hurrying down on the ebb or beating up against wind and tide. Now gone forever.”

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

…and “In  those far-off days, watermen, or “goozers”, to use their riverside nick-name, plied their trade in skiffs”. Edgar J March

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

William Higham was born in 1838 in Lewes Sussex. On 27/10/1864 he married Fanny Elizabeth Blake in Strood, nr, Rochester. By 1881 they had 9 children.

William was a Barge Builder and they lived in a private house on Victoria Street, Rochester. The location of his Yard is show on the OS map of 1898 on Blue Boar Hard, just above the Pier. ADA & EDITH is just one of many barges built here between 1876 and 1901.

Detail of OS Map 1898 showing land prior to development as Cory’s Coal & Rail Depot & Wharf. Rochester Riverside Industry. Reproduced by Kind Permission of MALSC.

 PROVIDENCE

FOX HOUND

MAID OF KENT

ANNIE & ALICE

CHARLEY BAKER

HERBERT & HAROLD

ADA & EDITH

ANSWERS

SILVER WEDDING

MABEL MAUD

VENTURA

FIVE BROTHERS

DOROTHY

 

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

‘WALRUS’ & ‘NELLIE’ were two portable conveyors owned by William Cory & Son, Coal Factors, at Cory’s Wharf, used for transporting stone aggregates from Barge to Train. These aggregates were known as Fines, Nuts & Cobbles.

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

“It has been my privilege to go over and see the marvellous machinery for loading and unloading coal. The five large cranes, when seen at work bowing their stately heads, look like dancers executing a minuet; …when in repose, standing like so many soldiers on sentry duty, with fixed bayonets. What a contrast to see the way a collier is unloaded by these cranes, as compared with the old coal whippers’ days! A coal boat seems scarcely to draw alongside the wharf before it is steaming away again”. Edwin Harris Guides to Old Rochester, Pub. 1930 No. 27 Part 1. (Ref: ROC. 942.23 HAR The Riverside. Harris/Edwin. MALSC).

 

Cory’s Coal Depot with 2 abandoned cranes from the original 5. November 1969. Black & White Photograph. Rochester Riverside Industry. Reproduced by Kind Permission of MALSC.

 

Detail of OS Map 1932 showing Cory’s Coal & Rail Depot & Wharf. Rochester Riverside Industry. Reproduced by Kind Permission of MALSC.

 

The five cranes were originally positioned along Cory’s Wharf on the far right hand side of the above OS Map of 1932

 

Detail of OS Map 1898 showing land prior to development as Cory’s Coal & Rail Depot & Wharf. Rochester Riverside Industry. Reproduced by Kind Permission of MALSC.

The earlier OS Map of 1898 records the same site some 30 years previously as Chatham Goods Yard. The site occupied by Cory’s Wharf is immediately below Blue Boar Pier along the HWMOT line.

 

Draft designs for granite or cast iron paving slabs. Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Dunlin…A Salt Marsh Bird

 

 

‘The Medway Estuary is believed to be the most important area in North Kent for wintering wildfowl in numbers of international significance. The Saltmarsh serves as a roosting area for waders at high tide. Several scarce plant species include: golden samphire, perennial glasswort and one-flowered glasswort. The estuary is one of the best places in Britain for the study of glassworts. The grazing marsh has breeding and wintering birds of interest; the former include lapwing, redshank, pochard, mallard and gadwall, while in winter large flocks of may wildfowl and wader species are present.

Ref: Environmental Stresses and Resource Use in Coastal Urban and Peri Urban Regions. DPSIR Approach to SECOA’s 17 Case Studies.

These overwintering birds, along with thousands of others migrating or breeding species have been present on our site, however the numbers of Dunlin and other birds have undergone a decline, ostensibly to do with habitat loss and disturbance, which is of course of great concern.

 

 

 

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset Cancer Centre

My digitally printed artworks for the new Robert White Centre were partially installed in December 2018, just prior to the official opening of the building on December 12th. The first floor glazing has now  been completed in the Cancer & Haematology Outpatients Department on the first floor. This is the Haematology Outpatients department and the services are delivered by Dorset County Hospital. The artwork for the ground floor Radiotherapy Cancer Unit is now in progress. Services here are being delivered by Poole Hospital. The new Cancer Centre is an extension of the Poole Hospital-based Dorset Cancer Centre.

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

“The £9 million centre is an extension of the Poole Hospital-based Dorset Cancer Centre. The Dorchester unit is equipped with the latest linear accelerator (LINAC) which enables patients to receive the best-possible radiotherapy treatment. This means that cancer patients in the north, south and west of the county can receive this care in their local hospital, instead of having to travel to Poole for treatment.

The facility also includes a £1.75 million Cancer and Haematology Outpatients Department funded by the Cancer Appeal run by Dorset County Hospital Charity. This was supported by hundreds of donations from individuals, community groups as well as Trusts and Foundations.

This building has been funded in part by an extraordinarily generous legacy from Poole businessman Robert White. Robert White was treated for cancer at the Dorset Cancer Centre, part of Poole Hospital, and sadly lost his battle in November 2015. Before his death, he had resolved to support the hospital and its county-wide cancer services to benefit others and decided that he would fund a new cancer unit, now named The Robert White Centre.

Martin Clunes said: “It was my privilege to be able to officially open the new Robert White Centre.

“The incredibly generous support from the community for the DCH Cancer Appeal, as well as Robert’s generosity, leaves a remarkable legacy for patients with cancer in Dorset.” Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2018

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook