Work is progressing on the Stracathro sculpture. Last week we drew out the site to scale in the yard. The piece will sit within a 6m gravel circle which cuts through the existing path.
We’ve started cutting out the steel.
The oak horizontal element is under construction.
Following on from the workshop held at Selby High School, workshops have now been held at Selby Abbey Primary School, Selby Community Primary School and Longman’s Hill Primary School. Involving children from years 3, 4 and 5 Ailsa worked with the pupils to design features for the Community Woodland. The children made pastel compositions based on natural forms. They then looked at the outline of the composed pastel drawing and drew the silhouette describing the form of their proposed sculpture.
In the afternoon the children modelled their sculptures in raku clay. Some lovely little pieces resulted from the children’s hard work. Ailsa is going to use these to inform the design of a number of wood carvings which will become permanent features in the community wood. In all 70 children took part in the primary school workshops.
The imagers here pretty much speak for themselves. Once the drawings have been drawn full size, we cut MDF patterns to use as guides for cutting the steel which will be done using a plasma cutter
Largest piece…. cut.
The pattern for the wooden seat.
Next week we plan to begin fabricating our piece for the Susan Carnegie Centre, Stracathro Hospital near Brechin. First of all we need to draw up full size templates as cutting guides. The images are projected onto boards making this process easier than having to square it all up like in the olden days!!!
Installation at The Ropewalk took place on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th May. The old gates and railings were removed so we could begin digging out the new footings.
Some of the digging was easier said than done. Just a few inches below ground level we found the remnants of an old brick building. Hamish and Dave had to dig out he bricks and create a secure foundation for the railings.
Once the footings were dug the railings and gates went in without a hitch.
The linear nature of the piece makes it difficult to photograph in its entirety.
Luckily the sun came out just as we completed work on day two allowing me to get some lovely photographs of the shadows .
