VORTEX
13ft high • Stainless Steel and Painted Steel Plinth with Digital Display
Countdown Clock for World Rowing Championships
September 2017 • Nathan Benderson Park • Sarasota • Florida • USA
'BROTHERS IN ARMS'
8 meter high Design Proposal in Corten Steel for the Guardians of Scotland Trust's initiative to commemorate the part William Wallace and Andrew De Moray played in the decisive battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297
PROJECT AIM
To create a high quality inspirational representation of Andrew De Moray and William Wallace within an attractive and informative environment for visitors to the Stirling Bridge Site.
COMMUNITY
To foster a sense of community ownership in the project by creating an artwork that captures the imagination, has the widest possible support by engaging with all interested parties and inviting local school children to contribute drawings and stencils that would be cut out and incorporated into the lower sections of the artwork.
OBJECTIVE
To create a figurative artwork that is monumental, dramatic, contemporary, informative, animated, accesible and inclusive, has a sense of intrigue and the potential to reveal more than first meets the eye.
SITE
The Stirling Bridge site is an accessible high profile location of historical significance, that enjoys a clear line of sight to both the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle, and is visible from all directions.
CONCEPT
During the course of my research, I have given the subject much thought and have come to the simple conclusion that the most appropriate way to portray Andrew De Moray and William Wallace is to have them side by side, holding a flag that not only physically links them together, but symbolises the reason for their endeavours and partnership.
I also wanted to take advantage of the site’s midway relationship to the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle by somehow creating a figurative artwork that not only sits in the present, but looks back to the past and forward to the future at the same time.
INTRIGUE
In order to achieve the above, I have adopted the well known optical illusion technique of creating a hollow face mask where the external positive image reads as normal from the front, but as you walk around the structure and look inside, an internal negative version of the face appears, and seems to follow you round as you continue to walk past.
ARTWORK DESCRIPTION
A monumental 4 meter high, double portrait of Andrew De Moray and William Wallace side by side holding a 8 meter high flag.
The flag could either be fabricated as part of the sculpture or be an actual flag, raised and lowered on special occasions.
DIMENSIONS
Sculpture would be set on a raised 450mm high circular concrete and stone paved plinth leading down to an elliptical gathering space with sponsored stone seating for visitors. The Artwork boundary would be defined by access paths that converge and encircle the site.
CONSTRUCTION
Multiple profile cut triangular Corten Weathering Steel sheets and Stainless Steel. Precision cut steel profiles would be welded together to form two three-sided hollow mask like forms creating an open shelter like structure accessible from the rear. CNC graphic images based on children’s drawings would be cut into the steel at lower levels.
4M (13ft) high stainless steel sculpture for the entrance to Manatee's new build Operations Centre in Bradenton, Florida
