Dream Interpretation of Art Sculpture in Front of Home
| Dream | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Jaume Plensa |
| Year | 2009 |
| Blazon | Dolomite on bandage concrete |
| Location | Sutton Estate Colliery, St Helens |
Dream is a 2009 sculpture and a piece of public art by Jaume Plensa in Sutton, St Helens, Merseyside.[1] Costing approximately £1.8m (equivalent to £2.47 million in 2020[two]), it was funded through The Big Art Project in coordination with the Arts Council England, The Art Fund and Aqueduct 4.[1] [3]
Origin [edit]
In 2008, St Helens took role in Channel 4's "The Big Art Projection" along with several other sites. The projection culminated in the unveiling of Dream, a 66-foot-high (20 chiliad) sculpture located on the erstwhile Sutton Manor Colliery site.[1] [iii]
St Helens retains strong cultural ties to the coal industry and has several monuments including the wrought iron gates of Sutton Manor Colliery,[4] as well as the 1995 town center installation by Thompson Dagnall known as "The Landings" (depicting individuals working a coal seam) and Arthur Fleischmann'southward Anderton Shearer monument (a slice of mechanism commencement used at the Ravenhead Mine).
The council and local residents (including approximately fifteen erstwhile miners from the colliery) were involved in the consultation and commission process through which Dream was selected.[1] The plans involved a full landscaping of the surrounding expanse on land previously allowed to go wild after the closure of the pit.
The sculpture [edit]
Dream consists of an elongated white structure 66 feet (20 yard) tall, weighing 500 tonnes (490 long tons; 550 curt tons), which has been cast to resemble the head and neck of a young woman with her eyes closed in meditation. The structure is coated in sparkling white Castilian dolomite, every bit a contrast to the coal which used to exist mined here. It toll about £1.9 million and it is hoped it will become as powerful a symbol in N West England equally Antony Gormley's Angel of the N is in North East England.[5]
Jaume Plensa himself stated "When I get-go came to the site I immediately thought something coming out of the earth was needed. I decided to do a head of a ix-year-quondam girl which is representing this idea of the future. It'southward unique."[1]
The original design of the sculpture called for a skyward axle of light from the tiptop of the caput, and the sculpture'south working title was Ex Terra Lucem ("From the ground, lite"), a reference to St Helens' previous motto. Due to objections from the Highways Agency, the sculpture was not lit, just in 2010 a new planning application was submitted to St Helens Council for it to be floodlit.[half dozen] [ needs update ]
Basic Info [edit]
· Designed by earth-famous, award-winning Catalan artist Jaume Plensa
· Continuing on a plinth, Dream is xx metres, 66 anxiety high and is fifty times life size
· The sculpture weighs 373 tonnes and sits on the site of Sutton Manor Colliery
· Made from brilliant white pre-bandage concrete with Spanish dolomite, the whitest marble
· The plinth in the shape of a miner'due south tally is 17 metres in diameter, made of 36 units
· The casting of Dream by Evans Physical of Derbyshire took a full of threescore days
· A total of 6160 homo hours were spent in constructing the sculpture
· 54 different panels each weighing 9 tonnes comprise Dream's head
· The supporting piles become 38 metres secret, well-nigh twice Dream's tiptop
· An estimated 55 million vehicles laissez passer Dream each year on the M62
Construction [edit]
The Dream sculpture is congenital out of moulded and bandage unique concrete shapes, 90 pieces in all contributing to over 14 tiers (54 individual elements for the head, each weighing 9 tonnes (8.nine long tons; 9.ix short tons)). Dolomite was utilised every bit a concrete aggregate in guild to provide the brilliant white finish. Additionally titanium dioxide was added to the mix in order to provide a self-cleaning mechanism. The construction required the structure of individual moulds for each piece and took a total of 60 days to cast.
The foundations of the sculpture extend 125 feet (38 thou) into the ground with viii piles driven in to secure it.
Timeline [edit]
Work on Sutton Estate Colliery commenced in 1906. Local coal proprietor Richard Evans sank the No.1 shaft with a diameter of 18 feet. This was completed in December 1909 when the shaft was extended to a depth of ane,823 anxiety. The sinking of No.2 shaft at Sutton Manor began in July 1906 with a shaft diameter initially measuring 22 feet. This was completed in 1912 and extended to a depth of 2,343 feet, the equivalent of five Blackpool Towers. Coal production started at the colliery in 1910, reaching its peak in 1964 when the pit employed 1,400 people and was producing 1,500 tons of coal per week.
In 1983, the National Coal Board announced a £14 one thousand thousand investment in Sutton Manor that they predicted would provide a "kiss of life" for the "viable" pit, converting it into i of Britain's most mod collieries. A year-long strike commenced at the colliery in May 1984 as role of the Great britain miners' strike (1984–85).
Production continued until 1991, when British Coal appear that the pit was unviable and was scheduled for closure. They claimed that Sutton Manor Colliery had lost £23 meg over the previous five years. The colliery closed with over forty years' worth of coal still clandestine.
In February 2001, the Forestry Committee leased the site from St Helens Quango and afterward consulting with the local community, put 'Project Wasteland to Woodland' into functioning. Starting in 2004, the heavily compacted soil was first prepared for tree planting and habitat creation, a procedure that took two months. Later this, fifty thousand young trees including alder, willow and ash were planted. The experts at the Forestry Commission chose a mix of slow and fast-growing trees to comprehend the site.
In 2005, Sean Durney, the Arts Officer for St Helens Council, nominated the quondam Sutton Estate Colliery site for a new Aqueduct 4 Television programme chosen The Big Art Project where various sites aimed to inspire and create unique works of public art across the Uk. The site competed with other locations and community groups nationwide equally part of this programme.
The St. Helens bid was supported by a sometime miners' focus grouping, formed in partnership with St Helens Council. The former pitmen were interested in the establishment of some form of memorial on the site. Former miner Gary Conley led this group of erstwhile Sutton Manor workers, who were tasked to work with an artist to commission an artwork backed past the local say-so. Contributions from the council were made by John Whaling (Economic Development Manager who was likewise the Dream Projection Manager) and Bob Hepworth (Director for Urban Regeneration & Housing).
At this point, the projection was given a working championship: Ex Terra Lucem, based on the erstwhile town motto of St Helens.
In January 2006, the council recruited Laurie Peake of Liverpool Biennial to act equally curator for the project. Laurie had only recently deputed Antony Gormley to produce his work on Crosby Embankment entitled Another Place. Despite being shortlisted alongside 11 other bids, the St Helens initiative was initially non selected by the production visitor'due south practiced panel equally one of the terminal 6 that would feature in the series, losing out to communities in Burnley, Cardigan, the Island of Mull, Newham in Eastward London, North Belfast and Sheffield. However, in November of that year, The Big Art Project's governing body decided to review its conclusion on discarding St Helens and ultimately included the Sutton Manor site as a seventh location.
In February 2007, the former miners' steering group held a coming together to select an artist to piece of work with, chaired past Laurie Peake. From a shortlist of twelve, the erstwhile miners unanimously selected renowned Catalan artist Jaume Plensa to submit a proposal, which he agrees to exercise. The former miners also agreed at this time against a literal monument to mining, instead favouring an installation that as well as referencing the by would be gimmicky and forward-looking. Plensa first visited the Sutton Manor site in April 2007, meeting the former miners during the visit, before returning in Baronial to present his offset ideas for the site to the steering group. This initial proposal was described as a twenty metre tall monument in the shape of a miner'due south lamp, named The Miner's Soul. This was rejected by the sometime miners' group who requested something more present-twenty-four hour period and progressive.
Plensa returned to St Helens in February 2008 with his new proposal, entitled Dream. The new design was well-received by the steering grouping, who requite it their full backing. St Helens Council granted conditional planning permission for the structure in September of that twelvemonth. In October, the contract to fabricate the installation's ninety panels of pre-cast concrete, to exist conveyed in sections to the site in St Helens, was awarded to Evans Physical of Derbyshire. Arup were appointed as lead project consultant alongside Cheetham Loma Structure every bit the lead contractor.
The topping-off ceremony took place in April 2009 as the final section of Dream was winched into place. The official opening anniversary was then held in May with over two thousand people in attendance, featuring a traditional Whit walk, contumely bands, choirs, and Jaume Plensa equally the guest of honour.
An commodity past Janet Street-Porter, highly critical about public art, was published in The Independent in April 2009. The columnist claimed that Dream would be ane of the "follies of our age".[7]
In July 2011, lights were installed at the base of the sculpture, intended to illuminate the elongated alabaster confront, only these were vandalised inside days. At the time, Helen Carter of the Guardian wrote: "There was a real sense of pride when it opened, particularly amid the former miners. Whenever I've visited, information technology has always been busy with domestic dog walkers and people who are there specifically to visit. I, too, promise they persevere with Dream."[8]
St Helens Council stated that 24,000 people visited the site of Dream betwixt February and May in 2011.
In August 2011, Melvyn Bragg visited Dream to interview Gary Conley for his three-part BBC Two series Class and Culture. Bragg describes Dream as "A cultural monument for a course".
In 2012, BBC's The Ane Show interviewed Gary Conley about Dream for a report on public fine art. Gary revealed that over 64,000 people had visited the Sutton Manor site in the by yr alone.
Screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce visits Dream for a BBC Radio 4 broadcast where he tells Gary Conley that he used Dream and the motto Ex Terra Lucem as inspiration for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London.
Gary Conley is featured in 2014 in both the Liverpool Repeat and the St Helens Star, pictured in front of Dream on the 30-year anniversary of the beginning of the miners' strike. Gary tells the media that Dream volition represent the mining heritage in St Helens and will ensure that information technology volition never exist forgotten.
Stuart Maconie visited Dream in 2015 to record a plan for Radio iv well-nigh northern men and the bonds between miners. Dream was chosen as the properties for the programme because of the area's transformation from Sutton Manor Colliery to the site which now homes the acclaimed artwork. The recording went on to become Radio 4'due south documentary of the month.
Dream was featured heavily in the Netflix crime drama series Stay Close, released on 31 December 2021.[ix]
Dream Awards [edit]
The prestigious Marsh Sculpture Prize 2009, awarded to the UK's best sculpture of the year.
The Best Community Artwork at Majestic Boondocks Planning Institute (RTPI) Due north Westward Planning Achievement Award 2009.
The 2009 British Precast Concrete Federation Creativity in Concrete Accolade. Awarded to Jaume Plensa
The Ambassador Of St Helens 2009 awarded to Gary Conley for his work on and promotion of Dream
The 2010 Civic Trust Award
The 2010 Civic Trust Special Honor for Community Date
The 2010 Places of Interest Quality Assurance Scheme (PIQAS) accreditation and chosen equally the venue for the national launch
The 2010 Visit England Northwest Tourism Award for Public Space, presented to the former miners for their work on Dream.
The 2010 Merseyside Civic Order Best Open Space Honour
The 2010 Merseyside Civic Society Civic Pride Accolade (voted for by the public)
References [edit]
- ^ a b c d e "The Daily Mirror Website". The Mirror. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- ^ U.k. Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth . Retrieved 2 Dec 2021.
- ^ a b "St. Helens Dream". St. Helens Council. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
- ^ "The Channel four Large Art Project In St.Helens". Aqueduct iv. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009.
- ^ Sooke, Alastair (25 Apr 2009). "The new face of the North Westward". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Review. p. 16.
- ^ "The St Helens Star Website". St Helens Star. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "Janet Street-Porter: Public art has become a vile pollutant". The Independent. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 2 Jan 2022.
- ^ "Vandal assail lights at landmark sculpture". The Guardian. 19 July 2011. Retrieved two January 2022.
- ^ "Stay Shut location guide: Where is the Harlan Coben thriller set?". Radio Times . Retrieved 2 Jan 2022.
External links [edit]
- http://dreamsthelens.com/
- https://suttonbeauty.org.uk/dreamsthelens/dreamstorypictures/
- https://suttonbeauty.org.great britain/beauty/dreamsthelens/
- https://suttonbeauty.org.great britain/dazzler/dreamsthelens/dreammedia/
- https://suttonbeauty.org.uk/suttonhistory/suttonmanorcolliery1/
- https://suttonbeauty.org.uk/suttonhistory/suttonmanorcolliery2/
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dream+st+helens
Coordinates: 53°24′36″N ii°43′nineteen″Due west / 53.41000°N two.72194°W / 53.41000; -two.72194
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_%28sculpture%29
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