Twenty two and three quarter miles to Whitby

a couple more pictures of Everyone's Always Somewhere...

Everyone's Always Somewhere

'Everyone's Always Somewhere' is now the official title of our now completed Old Railway Line project. It's the first line of the poem written by poet John Clarke in response to discussions with users of the old railway line. The phrase is actually a direct quote from one of the first young people we chatted to. I'm pleased it has now become the title.

The picture with the blue strip shows the glass strips which are silvered on 3 sides and inserted between the flags to add detail, depth and luminosity to the design. And I quite like the one showing the workmen reading the poem and coming over all contemplative!

Here are a few photos of the complete project. I'll add some wider shots ones we've scrubbed the tarmac and the surrounding green areas have been tidied!

Railway project installation starts!

Yesterday was the first time I actually saw the etched paving, and I must say it looks great! I really like how the etched area shows the curvy bmps of the glass chips which is a nice contrast to the smoothness of the rest of the surface. They glint beautifully in the sunlight too. There have been lots of delays and hitches with this project - sometimes useful (giving a little extra time to do some silvering), sometimes frustrating (waiting for pay day). It is the groundwork preparation that has been slow, which was completely beyond our control. I think the extended snowy winter has had something to do with it. Luckily the health and safety specification problems turned out fine. As the glass strips ae so small no information about load bearing capacity was needed afterall. Saint Gobain Glass, who supplied the glass were extremely helpful though, and can work out load bearing specifications from a drawing. Very impressive.

Anyway, now it is finally happening. We've been assembling the recycled glass slabs (supplied by Enviroglass) like a giant jigsaw, which was both fun and good for the biceps! we're on call all this week for jigsawing the next batch. Of course little hitches are still occuring. Today we found that the top section of the 'U' didn't line up with the bottom section slightly, and there was a bit of a tense moment while we decided if it was far enough out to be worth replacing. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and was in the yes camp, but a broken slab meant we were ordering another one anyway so that was the clincher. We're re-etching the misaligned U.

see the project blog for more pics

Railway project silvering

The railway public art project is being installed! see the project's own blog for a full pictorial archive.

Silvering the glass strips that are to be inserted between etched paving slabs proved a little tricky. In the end, it was the rather low temperature of my studio (10 degrees C) that was the problem. A cosy 21 degrees was needed to make the chemical reactions work. A god excuse to whack up the heating! Angel Gilding supplied the silvering kit - it came all the way from the USA!

I could seriously get into this silvering idea. Attempting to silver very thin strips with not much in the way of time or materials to spare was rather stressful but it worked out ok. Square foot coverage of several thin strips is not the same as if they were all one sheet though, so I got through a lot of chemicals! It was fun though, and now they're being cemented in place as I type. The long thin strips are silvered on 2 sides then embedded in the ground with only 1 clear edge visible. The intention is that the light enters and bounces around giving little strips of luminosity and depth in amongst recycled glass paving etched with signage text and a poem.

another award for Scarborough - we're on a roll!

RT Adrian Riley: stop press: scarborough wins acadamy of urbanism 'great town award'. is there no stopping us?! we beat finalists cambridge and chester. Hurrah!

New sponsors - Saint Gobain Glass UK

It's official! Saint Gobain Glass UK (SGGUK) are sponsoring new work plus business start-up and development.
This is an amazing new development for me at such an early stage in my architectural glass career, and I feel immensely privileged. In fact it has carried me through a very tricky first few months after graduating when even though a few commissions are on the go, the cash isn't flowing yet! So business start up funding from SGGUK has really helped get my business going. I'm also working on 2 commissions for them, both at the main Eggborough manufacturing plant. The first is for their main meeting room, and is a collaboration with fellow University of Sunderland graduate Eleanor Bird who is also receiving sponsorship. The second commission will be sited in the floor to ceiling windows of the main reception area, and is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the factory. During our negotiations we had an amazing tour round the manufacturing plant which is vast (see pictures). We saw the whole float glass manufacturing process. SGGUK pride themselves on an amazing set of 'green credentials'. They are the only company to collect cullet (glass for recycling) from their clients and pay for it. They then recycle this into the manufacturing process. Only 0.002% of their production is waste. They also seem to be a very people-centred organisation. Their MD Dr Alan McLenaghan stresses that a great deal of their success is down to respecting their people and getting the culture right. So, they seem a very good comany to be associated with! Ive already had some very inspiring conversations with Alan who is obviously very passionate about glass. I'm looking forward to more, and to finding out about the new technologies they are developing.

Tomorrow I have a site visit and hope to get the final proposals for the first commission approved. More about the artworks I'm making for them in future posts...

old railway line delays

The installation of our Old Railway Line public art project has now been put back for a second time - until January! While things were pretty tight schedule-wise, and the first short delay was quite welcome, this does seem a long time to wait.

I'm now on with further research into health and safety issues to do with laying the glass strips into the ground. Our work has to be able to withstand vehicles driving over it, and the contractors need to have proof that the stuff we're asking them to install complies with health and safety regulations and is fit for purpose. With the etched paving slabs the supplier provides that information. With strips of glass that I've water-jet cut and am soon to be silvering it doesn't seem so straightforward. Hmmm... think I need to give my old tutor a ring - architectural glass artist Cate Watkinson of Watkinson Glass Associates.

Anyway, I had fun water-jet cutting the glass at the University of Sunderland's Glass dept. (see picture)