Bondgate Community Wood…. completed

I realised today that it has been 5 months since I last posted anything on the blog. A whole other piece has been designed and fabricated in that time. I won’t bore you with the fabrication process, basically lots of chainsaw action and carving went on, pretty much the same as for the benches but on a larger scale. The works were all installed at the beginning of June and the celebration launch was held yesterday involving all the schools and individuals who took part in the workshops which were run last year leading up to the design process.

    

The totem is the final piece for the woodland project. Carved from a locally sourced, 200 year old oak tree which sadly had to be cut down due to Highways regulations. It was a pleasure to carve.
If you view this blog it would be nice to receive feedback as we are never sure who, if anyone, views the works posted here. Any comments would be gratefully received.
The Community Woodland sculptures has been a year long project. We’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunity to reintroduce wood carving to the portfolio and hope to have the chance to continue working in this versatile material, as well as all the other materials we have worked in in the past.

Bondgate…… 1st bench completed

The first of the 6 benches is completed. This will be my last posting for this project prior to installation. Installation will hopefully take place later this month or early March.

Bondgate…. adding a bit of colour

This week we’ve mostly been sanding, sanding and then sanding a bit more. Think that’s enough sanding for now, time to add a bit of colour.

January 2013…. back to work

 

Back to the studio this week after the Christmas break and it is full steam ahead to get the benches finished ready for installation.

The pieces will be individually coloured. I’ve already started to add blocks of black. The image below shows the colour palette I intend to use.

Bondgate Benches

On Friday 14th December we took delivery of the timber for the bench elements to go with the sculptures for Bondgate Community Wood.

Each bench end reflects the sculpture on the opposite end.

There will be 3 double sided benches and 3 single sided. The double sided pieces will have a single seat on one side and room for 3 adults on the other.

All six benches are now cut and constructed.

There is still work to do on these but they are progressing nicely. The intention is to complete them in the first few weeks of the new year.

Bondgate…. benches progressing

The sculptures are almost complete. It’s now time to start working on the seating elements. The above photo shows a mock-up of one of the benches. This is the size they will be, of course made from better quality timber and finished to a high standard. The images below show the working ideas for each of the seats.

Bondgate Community Wood…. all 6 pieces underway

I started work on the sixth piece in this series of carvings this week.

I’m really pleased with how these pieces are coming together.

Bondgate…… No. 5 in progress

Number 5 of the seating elements is now underway.

Bondgate Community Wood… work in progress

Work has begun on the carvings for Bondgate Community Wood in Selby. Each of the sculptures is a development from pieces produced during school and college workshops held earlier in the year (see previous postings). The sculptures are being carved from green oak and each one will incorporate a seating element.

There will be six pieces in total, one to represent each school/college that took part in the workshops.

Kiln…. first firing

Today the kiln is having its first firing. I’ve had the kiln since about 2008 but for a variety of reasons it has sat in the corner of 2 studios acting as a very expensive cupboard. Today it is finally being used for what it was built for. The children’s work produced during the workshops connected with the Selby Community Woodland project will be fired this week. Fingers crossed the pieces fire okay and there are no casualties. Once fired they will be returned to the schools.

Bondgate Community Woodland… maquette development

  

Working from the pieces made during the school workshops the children's designs are being developed into pieces of sculpture which will form part of seating elements for the woodland.

Selby Post July 5th 2012

Article published in The Selby Post last week.

Bondgate Community Woodland, Workshops at Selby Primary Schools

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.

Bondgate Community Woodland, Workshop at Selby High School

Ailsa has organised a series of workshops with local schools in connection with the Community Wood project. Pupils and students will work with her to design a series of sculptures which will be incorporated into the landscaping becoming permanent features within the wood.

Looking at natural forms; magnified pollen grains, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds from the native species planted on the site. A series of sculptures will emerge.

Pollen grains

Leaves

Seeds and fruits

Ailsa has started working on one or two ideas in the studio.

Selby High School students spent a day working on polystyrene carvings inspired by natural forms.

Bondgate Community Wood, Selby

Selby Community Trust and Groundwork North Yorkshire are pleased to be able to say that, after years of planning and preparation, work is finally complete to create a Community Woodland on Bondgate, Selby.

The project has been made possible with help from Groundwork North Yorkshire, grants from Big Lottery Community Spaces, The Big Tree Plant, Drax Power LFC, Eggborough Power, North Yorkshire County Council and the Selby Central Community Engagement Forum.

Over the past few months footpaths have been laid, and benches put in place, along with improvements to the car park.

Local schools planted the first of what will be over 5,000 native trees on the site. As well as the woodland and nature reserve, the field will comprise six areas which children from each of the six schools will have a hand in designing. Ailsa is currently working with the school children to design pieces of sculpture which will become permanent features within the Community Woodland.