The mixed media installation was created at the new visual arts hub,Ty Pawb in Wrexham in North Wales where I am currently Artist in Residence.I incorporated the cleaners broom to suggest a meandering pathway cutting through a sea of plastic on the gallery floor.The plastic was gathered from the tideline of various beaches in West Cumbria which will be reused and recycled to create future interventions in the space.
The temporary installation was created at St Bees beach in West Cumbria in 2017 and was created in response to environmental concerns about fish ingesting plastic debris and the potential dangers of toxic chemicals being introduced into the maritime food chain.The plastic debris was gathered from the tideline just prior to the construction and is deposited in large volumes on West Cumbrian beaches during winter storms.
The temporary mixed media artwork was made in response to environmental concerns about fish ingesting plastic debris into their digestive systems in the ocean..I sketched and cut out outlines of Irish Sea fish drawn onto plastic drink bottle labels and attached them to a capstan at Whitehaven Harbour in West Cumbria. The plastic labels reminded me of the fortune teller plastic fish that come from Christmas Crackers that curl up in your hand .The artwork was set up and photographically documented in November 2017.
The artwork is part of a series of temporary beach installations making use of enlarged photocopies from collected Victorian and Edwardian ceramic segments gathered from the tideline. The ceramic as well as glass and other domestic finds are products washed up from a subterranean midden located next to the harbour wall. The copies were adhered onto a smooth boulder in the outline of a map depicting a overhead view of the flow of nearby North Beach.The artwork was created on South Beach which is closed to the general public because of the danger of subsidence from cliffs of slag heap from an old collliery.
I have included two images of the temporary installation created at South Beach in Whitehaven,Cumbria,in 2017.I used enlarged photocopies of retrieved Victorian ceramic pieces,scattered across the tideline on nearby North Beach.The images were glued onto a metal post that itself resembled a ceramic sculptural form over the course of a stormy afternoon.I was drawn to The idea of wrapping up a ordinary featureless piece of metal and transforming it into a three dimensional jigsaw like form. The ceramic pieces were washed up from the site of a Victorian midden located just by the harbour wall and provide an endless supply of materials for ideas and inspiration for various artistic projects .The post dissapeared after two days of storms and was never seen again.
The mural was created on a 7×5 foot wooden board in early September 2017 over two days during my artist in residence post at Ceramic Wales,Regent Street,Wrexham College of Art for Glyndwr University. I used enlarged photocopies of beach tideline ceramic finds collected from North Beach in Whitehaven,West Cumbria. The subject was an old 18th century Cumbrian ceramic milk jug which was relevant to the theme of the festival. The photocopies were cut out and arranged jigsaw style within the form and then pva glued down once the correct position had been established. The artwork was created outside the main entrance to the College to attract the attention of passers by .Bad weather threatened to disrupt the process throughout but an overhead roof gave me just enough shelter.
“Bigfoot Imprint ” was created at South Beach in Whitehaven, West Cumbria in August 2017.The intervention was created in response to witnessing massive amounts of plastic waste deposited on the beaches in West Cumbria throughout the summer. To highlight the sheer volume and different types of plastic waste I created a towering edifice from material collected from nearly St Bees beach. I adhered the colourful waste onto a traffic cone borrowed from the nearby harbour and situated the artwork next to the sea. The cone itself acts as a warning sign and was embossed with the title “Bigfoot ” hence the title. After photographing the artwork it was disassembled and the cone returned to its spot on the street guarding against a hole in the ground.
The artwork is part of a series of drawings of retrieved toys picked up from various beaches in West Cumbria. I sketched the soldier onto discarded sheeting also found on the beach using a black marker pen. As well as highlighting environmental degradation and pollution in the marine environment I was drawn to a sense of melancholy evoked by discovering the toys washed up on the sands .Maybe the toys were left on the beach by children initially and then taken out to sea by the tide.?All the toys I have collected so far show signs of wave erosion resulting in missing limbs or soldiers minus their guns for example,resulting in dismembered states of appearance. I felt sympathy for their abandoned plight and and am curently resurrecting their status by sketching them and showing the results by the beaches they were discovered. The toy soldier drawing was pinned onto a beach groyne at St Bees beach in West Cumbria in August 2017.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 30 trips to carry that many people.
“Beach Products”,was assembled at Parton beach, Cumbria on a mild November day in 2014.
I’ve always been fascinated by industrial materials and the processes involved in the manufacture , storage and distribution of raw materials. Old washed up products from long gone brick and ceramic factories and studios as well as old coal ‘crackers’ were gathered from the tideline and stored temporarily in canvas bags.The idea was inspired by old photographs of people collecting and selling coal gathered from the beach in past times of hardship and austerity.The colours of the installation contrast vividly with the more natural sombre tones of the background seascape and act as an echoe and reminder of the intensity of the industrialised heritage of the West Cumberland coast.
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