Draft artwork awaiting approval to go into production – we are working with our client team to review / comment and approve in the next few days so we can meet our install schedule.
At this stage I set all the imagery against a black background – which actually indicates glazing with no printing – just clear glass.
This work will be digitally printed onto optically clear vinyl. The process allows for a layer of colour, followed by a layer of white and finally another layer of colour. The artwork can be read equally from both viewing sides – inside or outside the building. The production level artwork files, sampling and final digital printing and installation is done by my long-time collaborators, Vinyl Graphics Ltd.
Various degrees of opacity and transparency are designed into the artwork. As a rule this is worked out via single colour files – in this case magenta – which clearly indicate degrees of opacity.
This new development of 64 Extra Care Apartments at Orchard Park, recently delivered in April this year by The Riverside Group is called ‘Harrison Park’, 100 years after Jack Harrison VC a former Hull FC Rugby League Star was killed at Oppy Wood, Arras, France in 1917 during the First World War.
Today – the 3rd May 2017 marks the day all four Hull Pals Battalions took part on the attack on Oppy Wood.
This arts in health project was commissioned for Wenric Ward , which provides Low Secure Adult Services – by Tom Cox of Artscapeand the Staff of Wenric Ward.
Information about the history of the earlier Littlemore Hospital in Oxford can be accessed via this link to the Oxfordshire Health Archives and to the accompanying site about County Asylums .
Tom worked alongside Occupational Therapists Helen Keay (Senior OT) and Holly Williams, in collaborating with patients, to undertake a series of workshops centred around drawing and mark making. I was subsequently provided with access to these drawings as inspiration for the artwork, using where possible, drawing motifs, textures and colours which formed part of the outcome from the creative sessions.
The project site is created within the internal circulation space of the Ward, centred around a small external courtyard. Artwork will be digitally printed onto optically clear vinyl and applied to the glazing, which provides views into the courtyard. The artwork has been commissioned to be applied on three sides of the courtyard glazing taking in the Circulation Corridor, Lounge and Multi-Faith Room, animating the space, introducing colour and detail and to visually engage patients and staff.
The Glazing Vinyl Artworks are presented as a series of abstract & figurative elements based upon a number of historic land maps, including the 1816 plan of Cottingham Common showing historic field patterns, each of which is annotated with the names of the individual landowner and /or tenant farmer.
The Inclosure Act of 1766 transformed this ill-drained common meadow and pasture, which was subject to seasonal flooding from the tidal River Hull, into a landscape of sluices, dykes, drains and ditches, the names of which, will be familiar to many of you now.
The 1886 hand drawn map of Coldharbour Farm, on North Carr Lane -now Orchard Park Road, in the collection of the Hull History Centre, shows the individual fields held by the tenant farmer, which were farmed until the new estate was built in 1963. This new building on Hall Road, part of the Orchard Park Estate, sits within the original boundary of the farm.
It is this historic landscape and community which provides a ‘frame’ of support and a visual reference for the artworks, reflecting the fact that there has been a continuous system of land & water management and farming, in turn supporting a community on this site since medieval times.
The artwork builds a bridge to the past and also acts as a threshold between the external and internal landscapes of the building. The outlines of plants, suggest those which may have grown in the waterways and fields of the area – Flowering Rush, Floating Pondweed,
Dyers Greenweed, Birds Foot Trefoil, Marsh Marigold, Cowslip, Common Daisy and Stinking Cranesbill. The Field Pattern geometry works as a scaffold device to hold these detailed drawings together, with its suggestion of green fields, ponds, clouds and textures.
The whole artwork is kept rigidly in place via the deep architectural window frames, which impose a vertical and horizontal symmetry to the view.
The use of areas of clear, transparent glazing is very much a part of the intention of the work, allowing views both from and into the building, whilst further animating and providing a backdrop of external colour and texture to illuminate and make visible, the cut-out detailing of the artwork.
The Field Pattern is further used to inspire and give form to a wall-hung cabinet, to be known as the Field Cabinet, which can be used as an ordinary bookshelf as well as a cabinet of curiosity containing references to the history and locality of the new building.
27th April 2016 – Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Ashton Under Lyne
On Wednesday this week I attended a meeting of the project Arts Group to present the research, creative concept & draft development of the artwork for the TMU – Tameside Macmillan Unit. The pdf can be viewed via this link:
“Chris’ designs were presented to patient and staff representatives yesterday and were very well received. People felt they were really true to the original concept and Stewart Ramsden, the patient representative who took Chris on the walk was especially pleased. He felt the layers of detail offered repeated rewards for patients needing to return to the centre again and again. He also liked the semi abstract nature of the work which allowed people to find their own interpretation whilst still being very evocative of familiar local places”. Bronwen Gwillim – Creative DirectorWillis Newson
Some of the images from the pdf and the meeting are posted below –
Stewart Ramsden is a member of the TMU Art Group as a Patient Representative. Stewart also happens to be the President of the Tameside Ramblers. He accompanied me on the 12 mile walk in Tameside, which has been the inspiration for this project. Bronwen Gwillim is Creative Director at Willis Newson and is leading on the Arts and Interior Strategy for the Trust.
TMU Art Group members left to right – Sarah Lowiss Haematology Cancer Specialist Nurse, Michael Hughes Project Architect IBI Group & Gareth Llewellyn Capital Projects Manager for the Trust –
The meeting also covered the proposals for colour, fabrics and finishes for the Interiors of the building, which is being delivered by Michael Hughes, IBI Group Project Architect. I am also consulting with Olivia Kirk of Olivia Kirk Gardens who is designing the external courtyard finishes and planting scheme. It is an interesting collaborative process – as I am responding to and being inspired by their proposals for colour, texture and materials, whilst my draft artwork is also influencing the colour field and aesthetic for the project.
“Journeys through the Landscapes of Tameside” – this was the brief for the project and the theme for the 12 mile walk –
Stewart Ramsden, my walking partner compiled the walk – one he has done many times before.
Our route was eventually described by an eccentric figure of eight. Wild Bank and Hollingworthall Moor from Godley – a 12 mile walk through town, suburb, farmland and moorland.
This is a walk
A meander, a physical experience or just maybe a day-dream
A walk is more often along a path
The path or footpath changes in colour, texture and topography –
but there is always a remembered route to follow or a map to guide you
or maybe a venture to somewhere new
There is a constancy in moving forward
Things seen on a walk are half experienced and half remembered
A vivid green hedge
A tyre track
A discarded toy
A cloud which looks like a tree, a stream which looks like silver, a flash of colour
Horizon merges with sky
This is a landscape with no fixed perspective
Sky reflected in water
A small stone becomes a boulder
An object picked up and carried in the hand along the way
Track marks in fields are gestural and dynamic
Distant buildings become a child’s building blocks
The new development at Orchard Park, due for completion in 2017 is to be called ‘Harrison Park’ , 100 years after Jack Harrison VC, a former Hull FC Rugby League Star was killed at Oppy Wood, Arras, France in 1917 during the First World War.
A Pinterest Board of research images about Orchard Park and its history, can be found here.This will be added to throughout the project.
Hull was awarded City of Culture 2017so there is much to celebrate in the lead up to this brilliant event for the city.
This is one of three developments in the City which Riverside are delivering concurrently. The other sites are Leads Road on the north Bransholme Estate and Hawthorne Avenue in West Hull. There is a substantial integrated arts strategy and programme, developed and being delivered by RKL Consultants. I am one of a number of artists who have been commissioned to respond to these sites. The other artists are: Jyll Bradley, Katayoun Dowlatshahi, Rona Smith, Tim Norris and Angus Ross.
“Riverside (one of the leading social housing providers in the UK), in partnership with Wates Living Space, is developing three new high quality extra care schemes within the city of Hull;
Harrison Park, Hall Road (65 apartments, 60 x 2bed, 5 x 1 bed)
Cecil Gardens, Hawthorn Avenue (95 apartments, 89 x 2 bed, 6 short stay)
Redwood Glades, Leads Road (156 apartments 60 x 2 bed, 96 x 1 bed))
The developments will be delivered under the PFI protocol. They will be high quality residential developments providing lifetime homes for adults who need some form of extra care and support. Riverside is committed to engaging the skills and imagination of artists in providing people with living environments which enhance their quality of life, stimulate their imagination and which contribute meaningfully to life of the community”.RKL Artist Project Brief.