Flora | Christopher Tipping

I have been incredibly lucky to collaborate once again with Mark Durey at The Cutting Room in Huntingdon. I worked with Mark on the cnc cut facade for the new Heart of the Campus Building at Sheffield Hallam University Collegiate Campus. I am indebted to him for bringing these projects to life in way I could not deliver on my own. My colleague Sarah Alldritt also deserves a big thanks for her work translating my original artwork into ai vectors. Mark imports these digital files and re-builds the artwork through an Alphacam CAD CAM software programme to create the work. That may seem a straightforward digital process created by clever software …let me tell you that it is not. The translation from my artwork to end product is anything but straightforward in this instance. Mark is the key here. He has a clear understanding of how the programmes work – but – more importantly he is prepared to go ‘off-road’ and put his experience to task, problem solving and bringing an entirely bespoke service into play to produce the outcomes you see. I am lucky to have him as a collaborator.

Mark has an individual methodology at play whilst creating the cutting files. He adds colour to enable him to plan the work and – indirectly, I find these images inspiring and creative in themselves. Probably annoyingly I am always asking for screenshots of particular details.

Manufacturing drawings for The Flower Bowl cnc routed elevations. Image: Mark Durey

The latest image by the client Guy Topping – the left hand elevation for The Flower Bowl Main Entrance – but how did we get to this point?

Main Entrance Elevation in progress at The Flower Bowl. Image: Guy Topping

In 2011, I took a series of Animal Thanet images entitled Pegwell Safari – down on the abandoned concrete apron of the former Pegwell Bay Hoverport at Pegwell Bay, Thanet. These images formed part of a postal art project.

Some of the images show the cooling towers & chimney of the former Richborough Power Station, which were demolished by explosives at 09.07am on 11th March 2012.

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.

Hippopotamus amphibious Pegwell Bay, Thanet with Richborough Cooling Towers in the background. Image: Christopher Tipping

Hippo Postcard Project – Hippopotamus amphibious Pegwell Bay, Thanet with Richborough Cooling Towers in the background. Image: Christopher Tipping

Plains Zebra, Equus zebra Pegwell Bay, Thanet. Image: Christopher Tipping

Buffalo, Syncerus caffer, Pegwell Bay, Thanet. Image: Christopher Tipping

Nile Crocodile. Crocodylus niloticus, Pegwell Bay, Thanet. Image: Christopher Tipping

Sperm Whale, Physter macrocephalus, Pegwell Bay, Thanet. Image: Christopher Tipping

In March 2011 a Sperm Whale beached and died at Pegwell Bay. I remember running along the beach at low tide all the way from Ramsgate to see it. A whale necropsy was carried out the following day, which was astonishing to see.

Sperm Whale beached at Pegwell Bay March 2011 Image: Christopher Tipping

Necropsy of Sperm Whale beached at Pegwell Bay March 2011 Image: Christopher Tipping

Other images were taken earlier in April 2008, of plastic animals from my collection at various sites in Ramsgate and along Ramsgate Main Sands and the Thanet Coast –