Osney Lane Oxford Public Art Project Autumn 2014
Osney Lane Development – Oxford – Autumn 2014
I have been working on the two panels of the entrance wall area of this new student accommodation being built in the centre of Oxford for Cherwell College
My name was put forward by the contractor Exel Construction following work I did at Chapel Street in Oxford in 2013 – I think this is quite unusual as an introduction to a commission but am really pleased to have made some kind of impression on the contractors!!
include this in public works and how it might apply to the users of the space I
am designing for, in this case students.
I didn’t really get inspired by the location despite the obvious history
of the abbey and mill and so I tried to take a different approach to give an
exciting dynamic piece that would appeal to the users of the building and
passers by.
pathways’. Thinking about the student’s
path of learning and the close tuition they will have with
I researched the process of using the brain and this took me on an exciting
discovery of the patterns discovered and drawn by Nobel Prize winner Santiago
Ramon y Cajal. These beautiful drawings
really appealed to my process of making a journey in steel and combined with
Cajal being a fantastic ‘inspiring scientist who flourished through artistic
expression’, I thought this would be a brilliant starting place for the art
work and hopefully create some interest for the students that use the space.
photographs of neurons, axons and dendrites and these formed the basis of my
designs.
I intended for the panels to have a three
dimensional aspect with overlapping parts and a solid body to the cell part of
the design.
The panels have been forged over the last couple of months, each one weighing in at 69 Kilos it has been hard slog! I enjoyed the challenge of making the cell parts from sheet stock, hammering hot into an oak hollowing block I had turned by local wood turner Paul Swann
200 hundred hours of making later I have two lovely panels to be galvanized and powder coated prior to installation in early December 2014