Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden

Barbara Hepworth lived at Trewyn Studio from 1949 until her death in 1975. In her will she asked the executors to consider the possibility of turning the studio into a permanent exhibition of her works. She said that she envisaged “small sculptures, carvings and drawings…on the first floor… my working studio being shown as closely as possible as it has been in my lifetime… and a few large works… in the garden.”

The garden contains three large stone carvings and a representative group of eighteen bronzes. Hepworth’s sculptures were among the first completely non-representational works. However, they never lack human inspiration and significance, demonstrating the relationships between man and woman, mother and child and people to nature.

During my visit to the museum, a harpist was playing in the garden, amongst the sculptures. The music and tranquillity of the garden enticed people away from the hectic streets of St Ives and allowed them a space to relax.

Super Sunday

Be Art! Super Sunday, hosted by the Tate (St Ives) is Porthmeor Beach’s first living painting. Children and adults were all encouraged to get involved creating an interactive piece of modern art on the beach. These events help to introduce children to the concept of art and encourage them to be more creative.

Minack Theatre

Minack –meaning ‘rocky place’ in Cornish. The theatre was planned and built by Rowena Cade, between 1931 and 1938. In the 1920s Rowena purchased the Minack headland for £100 and built a house for herself and her mother using granite from St. Levan quarry. Rowena soon decided the headland would be the perfect setting for outdoor theatre and hired two Cornish craftsmen to help her create a simple stage and some rough seating in the cliffs. In 1932 the Minack put on its first performance – ‘The Tempest’. Over the next seven years the theatre was developed and extended. Unable to afford granite for the seating, Rowena developed her own technique using cement (using sand from Porthcurno beach) and etching Celtic designs with a screwdriver.

Today the trustees of the Minack have a clear set of objectives:

• to preserve the magic of what Rowena Cade has created while developing a fully equipped modern theatre
• to attract large audiences while putting on programmes that have real variety
• to book new and inexperienced companies while keeping the performance standards high
• to keep ticket prices low and cover the costs of repair

'The Three Musketeers'

Trebah Gardens

Trebah is a 26 acre Cornish ravine garden. This sub-tropical paradise is home to a unique collection of rare Helford River.

Wandering around this garden was a really exciting experience. From the top the view over the whole garden down to the sea enticed me to explore further. As I descended down the ravine via the winding footpaths, new surprises were around every corner including sheltered pools, a place to rest and admire a fabulous vista, beautiful exotic plants and finally, at the end the garden opened onto breathtaking rocky beach exposed to the sea and the elements.

Lemon Quay

Lemon Quay, Truro originally a tidal estuary but was built over in 1930’s and until recently was used as a car park. The regeneration of this space and its use by the public is a very important development for the city of Truro.

Two key sculptural features are planned for this recently developed area in order to become a symbol of the newly invigorated town. An artist will be selected to represent the history and the future of Truro in two sculptures. Each artist was asked to take the following into account:

• the sculptures must be sensitive to the current architecture as Lemon Quay is a conservation area
• the effect upon visitors to Truro needs to be considered
• the design and use of materials should take an original approach
• one of the works can include the use of water
• the works should acknowledge in some way that Truro is partly tidal
• the works should relate thematically, visually or aesthetically to each other
• the works must be structurally sound to comply with British Health and Safety standards
• maintenance required on the works should be considered
• the works must be robust enough to withstand vandalism
• weight must be considered due to the close proximity to an underground culvert

Four artists have been chosen to put forward proposals:

Tim Shaw – ‘In Remembrance of Tidal Waters that Lie Beneath’
“The design has evolved through acknowledgement of a space that used to be water and quayside. The sculptural forms also relate to the design language of the site furniture – a reflection of boats along the water’s edge or the tidal flow against the quayside walks.” -Shaw

William Pye
Pye proposes a piece based on the form of a breaking wave and a monolith with water descending down every surface, picking up the spiral forms of the current seating and paving. The link between the two pieces would be the water –one real and one metaphoric.

Peter Randall-Page
Here the artist proposes a vertical, spiral shell made of Cornish granite. The shell would be cut in two halves, acting as a gateway to Lemon Quay. The piece would be hollowed out so it is not too heavy and lit from inside at night. The second piece would be an inverted spiral which would slowly fill and empty with water according to tide times.

Doug Cocker
Cocker’s aim is to “establish a design which is dynamic, integrated and invites interaction from people using the space; to make reference to maritime history of the site through form, shape, materials and water movement; to contribute to the design dynamics of Lemon Quay and to provide a landmark icon and a water feature which promotes delight and invites participation.”
The first sculpture is inspired by the shapes and lines found in ship’s rudders. The second represents the backrush of water over rock formations between breaking waves.

After submitting their proposals the sculptor chosen was Doug Cocker.

Images: www.truro.gov.uk

The Beach

The Beach is a £200 million private sector, regeneration project to build a holiday and leisure resort.
In 1990 planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the site to include 511 holiday dwellings, together with leisure and rental facilities and a sea wall. Since then two new planning applications have been submitted requesting that the leisure facilities could be open all year, as opposed to closing out of season and to knock down the Coliseum building currently on the site. In January 2006 the government decided to call a public inquiry, which is likely to be held in early 2007.
The developers, Ampersand, intend to build and manage the resort once it is open. In developing the site road access will need to be improved as traffic flow will be greatly increased. Provisions for busses, cyclists and pedestrians will be necessary on the site.
Access for all is part of the new development plan. A new cycle path will be built and the cliff steps will be upgraded. Disabled access to the beach will also be included by the addition of ramps. Public parking will also be provided.

An economic impact study (KPMG) calculated that The Beach will be worth £21 million per year to the local economy, including spending in the surrounding areas by the people staying at the resort. During construction 500 jobs will be available and once built The Beach will create job opportunities for over 400 people. The development will also take pressure off local housing stock, as it will decrease the number of second housed being built in the area.
The Beach will have one of the most advanced coastal defence systems in the UK. Over £5000,000 has been spent to date on design and £20 million will be invested to build the defences. The coastal defences will include just under 1km of public promenade.

There is currently great conflict over the plans for Carlyon Bay, with the development facing strong opposition. Carlyon Bay Watch is a group that is raising awareness of issues surrounding the development at Carlyon Bay. They are currently concerned that the development will have an environmental impact on the land, sea, air pollution, light pollution, the wildlife and character of the area. Carlyon Bay Watch also have reservations about the sea wall and long term implications to the coastline, geological instability of the site, and the impact on the infrastructure of the area.

The Beach

Carlyon Bay Watch

Kingston SLIC Meeting

This meeting was my first meeting as a member of SLIC (Student Landscape Institute Council). I was keen to become a member as it would give me the opportunity to represent the student members of the Landscape Institute and put forward new ideas to help students gain more from their time at university. It would also give me the chance to take on new responsibilities and be involved with many other events.

The topics discussed at this meeting:

Current Coverage for University Representatives
Currently not all the universities credited by the LI have members in SLIC. It is important that each university has a representative as it enables news of events and the LI to reach the students. Therefore, SLIC publicity needs to be raised in order to find more representatives.

Promotion
A new logo for SLIC was agreed upon. The logo was to be used on a banner, to be used for SLIC exhibition stands and 1000 promotional postcards to be used at exhibitions and events attended by SLIC.

Cityscape
The outline of Cityscape 2007 was explained. Cityscape were keen to promote the exhibition to students and in exchange for promoting the event on the SLIC website they granted SLIC exhibition floor space at the event as well as free conference tickets. SLIC were also approached to design a 333sq. m streetscape for the exhibition’s centrepiece. An outline of the design had already been drawn up and it was discussed how to further this.