ESI

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The first day of the Ellesmere Sculpture Symposium encountered the expected dramas as artists arived from around the world.

Ellesmere Sculpture Initiative Chairman Alan Bradbury took time out to show me the exhibition site and I asked him how it felt now that it was actually happening….

Three sculptors were on site when I arrived selecting their stones. Tom Gilhespy and Trevor Clarke from the UK and Luis Afonso from Portugal had a choice of selected stones. I heard there was some local discussion about who had one particular stone – but Trevor got it and I thought Tom was very pleased with what he found later.

Luis had a thoughtful approach. They all had been given a tour around the Castlefield site where the sculpture cluster will be placed. He wanted to make something tall – like a column that would be seen on the hill from the road.

There was some discussion about whether the truck would be strong enough to move the stones. Luis was doubtful but it did……

Tom Gilhespy

Trevor Clarke

And eventually they got their chosen stones to their work stations….

I visited the sculptors symposium site on day 3 of the two week event. There were new artists working hard there and progressing well with their ideas.
Lakatos Pal Sandor – the artist from Hungary – explained to me that stone wasn’t his usual medium. He worked mainly with bronze so he proposed to set some small metal pieces into three stones that are joined together. He was working on his first stone which had a beautiful colour of blueish green. The stone was to be kept as natural looking as possible – the structure of it made it impossible to carve.

Pal introduces himself…..

Pal was working to fit connecting parts to the main stone….

The Argentinian artists Maria and Emiliano Sacco are a brother and sister team. They don’t speak any english….

Luis Afonso speaks good english and spanish so he is a key link between the artists.

: Luis Afonso talking with Emiliano and Maria

Emiliano was working hard to cut a rectangular hole into his stone while Maria was creating a landscaped surface.

Luis Afonso was waiting for a new cutting disk that Alan Bradbury was going to collect. He was looking forward to be able to turn the stone upright so he could see the shape of his evolving column.

Tom Gilhespy and Trevor Clarke were busy developing their carving. Trevor was creating an interlocking spiral around his stone. The marks he was making were evoking thoughts of fossils – only day 3 and already an exciting piece.

: Trev carves his stone.

Day 2 Dear Diary, Pal, Emi and Sole have chosen stones. Emi and Sole have chosen sandstone. Luis has chosen the Hardest granite he has come across, and he is burning up our best granite angle grinder blades at a great rate. We have sourced a blade that comes from Belgium. Everyone else making good progress.

Day 3 Disaster! While I was at the Quarry postman tried to deliver new blade, but signature needed. New Oswestry sorting office takes undelivered mail back to Oswestry. Not available to collect until Thursday. The rest are rethinking their original ideas as they get to know their very individual stones. They are so different, and some demand a reappraisal.

Day 4 Jackpot! The new blade does the job for Luis, who is all teeth now. Pal has come to love his stone and realises it’s potential, so has abandoned idea of inserting bronzes, The stone is talking to Pal now , at times singing to him, he is ecstatic. Rest making good progress, but very tired. 8.30am to 6.30pm with a heavy grinder, or hammer and chisel or heavy air tools is tough. Luis concerned now that his stone is upright, it is going to be more difficult to place the other stone on top than he thought. he needs to rethink!

: Luis Afonso’s stone turned upright

Everyone pleased that we bought air hoses to reach all canopies. Problem with air pressure too high, it’s blowing tools out of fitting, but the compressor is set high for the paint spraying shop, and cannot be reduced. Trev has to be home on Friday for hospital visit with one of his children. I am doing the run to Cottages this evening so stay over for morning run. Great evening looking at each other’s work, candid opinions about approaches.

Day 5 Wrexham supplier of hoses have idea of introducing a valve to reduce pressure in air line, When I return Tom is happy bunny, and works non stop with his favorite air chisel which achieves the “worn by centuries of friction” effect that he wants. Luis has a new approach which will use the stone as it is, instead of attempting a huge reshaping job, which he realises will take too long. Pal is making love to his stone, he is interpreting it wonderfully. He has a magic trick with water. Wait til you see it! Emi can see daylight through his stone now. Tom is ready to collect his chains and has made good progress. Trev absent today but has worked very hard on his spiral and will finish on time Sole working on her second stone now, which has a different shape. I am looking forward to seeing how she links them.
They have to finish at 12noon tomorrow, then after showering the dust off we are out for a trip in the Qube minibus, which everyone is looking forward to.
Will Clifford’s Scholarship piece is being delivered to the Quarry tomorrow and stored prior to installation later next week .

Next week will be great!

The Ellesmere Sculpture Initiative chair Alan Bradbury has been keeping a photo diary alongside his journal. Here are his latest postings….

emi

emistone10aug

luis

luis10aug

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pal

pal8thaug

Pal-10aug2

sole

sole2

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Solestone10aug2

tomsstone

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trev

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Its been a truly hectic week for the artists organisers documenters and everything to do with Ellesmere Sculpture Initiative’s Symposium and exhibition.

The week has been about pulling exhibitions together. For the artists – finishing and delivering their work. For the organisers keeping the artists happy, sorting and arranging heavy lifting equipment and entertaining the press and VIP and other guests. It is now Friday afternoon and I can only imagine the final artist angst of putting the last arrangements together. I am sighing a deep breath as the related exhibition at Qube is installed and ready for the private view tonight. Visitors will have the rare opportunity to see two exhibitions at Qube with the Ellesmere Sculpture Initiative Scholarship Winners 2009 Related Works sharing the building with Peter Blake Alphabet http://www.qube-oca.org.uk/arts/arts.htm

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When I have not been able to get to Ellesmere Alan Bradbury has found time to take pictures and send me diary comments. Here are some pictures from his week….

maria

luisstone

tomandstone

trevstone

emi

So to celebrate the ESI symposium come along to Qube, Oswald Rd, Oswestry tonight 6.30 and at Castlefields in Ellesmere tomorrow (Sat aug 15th) 3pm.

Here are some web clips of Wednesdays VIP trip to the quarry.

First we enter the Quarry on a bus….

Then the VIP’s got out of the bus and talked art with each other and the artists…

There are probably some better video shots to emerge….but it gives a sense of the occassion. We were quickly herded back on the bus and taken on a tour of the Quarry. The TEG general manager told us about the origins of the stones and some quarry history….

After the hard two weeks the artists had endured the symposium ended with a flurry of exhibition activity. In Oswestry the ESI scholarship winners related works exhibition was installed at Qube while heavy lifting equipment was being used to transport and site the symposium artists finished work at Castle Fields.

: Ruth Martindale, standing in front of her work, listens to the opening speach at Qube.

Ruth Martindale worked for two days at Cremorne Gardens creating an installation of string made from found plant life. String concoctions were labeled with their ingredients.

Her gallery work consisted of pages for a developing book of pressed leaves and drawings.

The work is very embedded in process with the environment and found products dictating and inspiring her creative process.

Trevor Clarke as well as working on the symposium was a Wolverhampton University scholarship winner and had a piece he made during his MA course installed at Ellesmere Wharf.

He supplied 4 small sculptures for the related works exhibition at Qube, the works colours complimenting the work of Will Clifford the third artist awarded a scholarship. Pictures of the exhibition can be seen at the Qube Arts website .

: Detail of Ruth Martindale’s installation

: Trevor Clarke’s scholarship installation.

The symposium artists worked very hard to get their pieces finished and installed ready for the opening on Saturday.

On the exhibition opening day everyone involved met at the Boathouse in Ellesmere for lunch. It is a location on the Mere opposite Castlefields where the sculpture was sited. The artists all gave a talk about their work with Luis Afonso working hard controlling the computer and translating for the Spanish speakers.