What great news! Being selected for the Broomhill National Sculpture Prize is a really amazing opportunity . The work I proposed for the competition is based on the format of a work I made in Denmark last year for the opening of a UNESCO heritage site. Specially made triangular double glazing units were drilled and filled with sand from 36 different beaches I visited when I was there. This time I will be using sand from the River Thames . I have always loved the river, growing up in London it has always had a special place in my heart. In fact my mums waters broke with me above it , when she was walking across Hammersmith bridge! The images uploaded so far are a few from this project in Denmark to give a feel for the piece I will make for Broomhill.
www.katiesurridge.com
so..here it is ..the finished work.
I drove down on Sunday and stayed the night ..to start installing on the monday. I was greeted by Rinus and Aniet and had the most wonderful time and ate the best food …so thank you ! (..Enjoy your installs you lucky ones still left !)
Monday it was rainy! It was quite a tricky install because of this and it made digging holes to set the concrete foundations in a very messy business! This is also why it looks like a sculpture on a rugby pitch rather than in the forest in these photos! The clamps are also still on here as the adhesive was going off…SO ..ignore the mud and the clamps if you can!
Good luck everyone! and a huge thank you to all at Broomhill for a wonderful time and a great opportunity . XX
Today has been spent sorting a number of the finishing touches. I put together the notice board showing some of my river finds, went to the forge and made some ground screws to secure it in place on site and started preparing to pack the finished piece and tools in to my van .
These are some sneaky shots of it coming together. The glass will not be stuck in place until we are on site as it is too heavy and risky to do this before .
I am driving down to Broomhill on Sunday….heres to a smooth trip and installation!!
Its been a busy week in the studio. To dry out all the sand i placed it on giant bits of cardboard and continually turned it. It is essential it is totally dry or it will cause condensation on the inside of the double glazing units. Next it was sieved, using my sand sieving machine, to remove all of the larger objects.
As another part of the work i have been sorting all these finds from sieving the sand in to groups. I couldn’t believe some of the things i have found… including a tiny jaw bone, about 20mm long with the tiny teeth still in it!! These will be documented soon so watch out for images. These finds will also be displayed in a case next to the work.
And finally i have started the long process of carefully pouring the sand in to the units.
On the weekend i visited the river Thames and collected the sand I needed for my work. I visited two beaches that are almost opposite each other, one on the North side, the other on the South side. The sand on these two beaches was really quite different , the North was a lot finer and the South much more gritty. The next step is to get is back to the studio asap and get it drying out… then i can see if the differences in the colours in the sand is going to be enough to make a pattern with , or if all the triangles will be filled with the same sand.
Im off to London tonight to go sand collecting tomorrow . Two spots will be used on opposite sides of the river to collect different coloured samples, so that a pattern can be made with the triangles in the piece. i have built this machine to help separate out the larger items. These won’t fit between the glass layers, however the most interesting finds will be on show alongside the finished sculpture
check out this link to find out whens low tide , and therefore best to get on to the Rivers beached….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/tide_tables
