spirit of place

ge•ni•us lo•ci |'jēnēes lōsī; -kī|noun [in sing.]the prevailing character or atmosphere of a place. • the presiding god or spirit of a place.ORIGIN early 17th cent.: Latin, literally ‘spirit of the place.’

Foreword 1

Artists 3

The People Speak, Craylands 5

Ray Smith, Ramsden Hall School 9

Andrew McKeown, Epping Primary School 13

Jacqueline Poncelet, Flitch Green Primary School 17

Michael Johnson, Brentwood High Street 21

Michael Pinsky, Park & Ride 25

Roman Vasseur, Harlow 29

Bruce Williams, Turner Village/Queen Boudicca Primary School 33

Nayan Kulkarni, Sadlers Farm 37

Open Space Programme 41

Alex Murdin & David Cotterrell, Jaywick Martello Tower 49

Projects in Development 55

Project Location Map 56

The Future 57

Partners 59

Contact Information 60

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JEREMY LUCAS, THE CABINET MEMBERHERITAGE, CULTURE & THE ARTS

Essex was the first County Council to develop and adopt the principle of a public art policy (in the late 1980’s) and the first to receive an Art & Architecture Award from the Royal Society of the Arts. As part of our development, a major public art programme of work in 2003 was created, entitled Coast. This was launched as a three year visual arts project and aimed to raise the cultural and aesthetic profile of Essex’s coastal area while encouraging better access and appreciation of its landscape, people, history and ecology. With these strong foundations and evidence of successful delivery, approval for further public art funding was granted by the Essex County Council Cabinet to switch to a central budgeting process that now allocates up to 1% of the capital programme and creates a ‘Public Art Common Fund.’

The Public Art Common Fund has now developed into a public art programme entitled Genius Loci (‘Spirit of Place’) with a potential capital spend budget of up to £2.14 million to spring 2010; this is linked to Essex County Council’s major capital development schemes and plays an integral part in the Essex Design Initiative. A key priority of Genius Loci is to commission artists early in the design process. We currently have a supporting network of over 20 artists

working within education, transport, regeneration and community-led public art projects across the County. The response of the artist to the project location and its unique spirit of place is central to our aim of enhancing the visual richness of buildings, roads, landscaping and, ultimately, the image of Essex.

Throughout our commissioning process the Public Art Strategy Group has involved my Cabinet Member colleagues and all relevant internal and external partners, together with the local community for each proposal. This collaboration gives strength to every project in its development and delivery. We have therefore been able to commission an exciting variety of lead artists who offer a wide range of experience and current artistic practice, which will eventually fulfil our aims and inform our next programme of work.

This is a long running programme, supported and led through a vision for future public art in Essex and providing creative development for the artists involved. I hope and believe that the beneficiaries are the residents of and visitors to our County.

Jeremy LucasCabinet Member for Heritage, Culture and The Arts, Essex County Council

BARRY SHAW MBEHEAD OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

The built environment of Essex has been shaped by countless generations of human activity, both planned and unplanned. It is imperative that in dealing with the pressures of change at the beginning of the 21st century this generation adds to our heritage with sensitivity and excellence.

The county wide Genius Loci project is underpinned by cooperation. Planning, urban design and public art professionals at Essex County Council are working closely with the district councils in whose areas activity is taking place. Artists are working with developers and town planners, with engineers and architects, with children and their teachers and with town councillors, business and traders. Delivering good design requires shared ambitions and this programme builds on its inclusive approach with the aim of enhancing the visual richness and image of Essex.

The commissioning of artists for the programme has allowed us to build on their role as a cultural

avant-garde. They can go out in front with a heightened sensitivity to context, able to create a focus on local identity and sense of place. It will form part of the County’s preparation for the London Olympics and accompanying Cultural Festival that will focus attention not only on the capital but also on the surrounding areas providing logistical support with tourism and training.

Genius Loci is a national pathfinder. By working through partnership it is able to make an impact at a regional scale, to help enhance the perception of this County. Our lives are shaped in many ways by the environment and how we live in it. Our belief is that the pioneers and innovators we work with can improve our surroundings by developing the true spirit of Essex and showing that the County is a vibrant place in which to live, work and visit.

Barry Shaw MBEHead of Built Environment, Essex County Council

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Stuart Bowditch | Matt Cook | David Cotterrell | Gordon Flemons | Michael Johnson | Nayan Kulkarni | Andrew McKeown

Alex Murdin | Michael Pinsky | Jacqueline Poncelet | Damien Robinson | Miranda Sharp | Ray Smith | The People Speak

Roman Vasseur | Bruce Williams

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THE PEOPLE SPEAKCRAYLANDS, BASILDON

‘The People Speak’ are an art collective that develops fun and engaging ways to get people talking, imagining and creating public art and public space together.

The artists’ ongoing projects include: Talkaoke - a mobile public talk-show; Who Wants to Be - a spontaneous democratic game-show; and One Night Grandstand - a have-a-go sports commentary road-show. Using these projects as starting points, they continue to develop new projects with the communities they meet.

Mikey Weinkove (pictured) and Saul Albert are co-founders of The People Speak with Ricardo Sleiman, Wojciech Kosma, Hektor Kowalski, Zsolti Balogh and Asia Bas.

Mikey is an artist and chat show host. He is the inventor of Talkaoke and has toured the world hosting it in a huge variety of contexts, from high-profile cultural institutions such as the Tate Modern, London and the Edinburgh Festival to regular residencies in cafes and bars. He has been touring with Talkaoke since 1997 and is an expert chairperson for any debate. He knows how to get a conversation going in a compelling but non-confrontational manner.

Saul Albert is an artist and technologist from London whose work developed from the intersection of net art, DIY culture and the Free Software Movement in the 90s and he continues to develop forms of participatory culture, technology and governance.

www.theps.co.uk

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BACKGROUND

The Fryerns and Craylands Estate areas in Basildon are historically separated by physical and emotional boundaries. The scheme’s aim is to develop a Multi-Neighbourhood Centre within the central area between the estates that contains shops, new houses, an adult education building, a heath centre, play spaces, green links and new roads. It is hoped that this Centre will allow the community to enliven the cross over points and improve their well being and environment.

The People Speak have been commissioned to inform proposals and to create a cohesive, enjoyable and visually stimulating environment, providing creative opportunities for people to become involved in shaping their environments. This will begin to inform the Basildon Regeneration Programme.

CREATIVE PROCESSES

So far, The People Speak have been participating in events in Fryerns and Craylands run by various organisations and groups, such as Family Fun Days and an International Day. They are pleased to be able to get to know people and develop ideas together. By doing this they have had many conversations with the people from the estates, they have spent time meeting people and getting to know the community.

The People Speak are always inspired by the people they meet. When they came for their interview on the estate they were shown around by the Friends of Craylands community group and said that they were really welcoming and inspiring to meet. At this point they knew that they could contribute something to Fryerns and Craylands Estates.

“We’ve just been given the use of an old laundry room by Swan Housing which we’re converting

into a studio. Our plan is to be there on a weekly basis - turning

ideas we’ve heard from people into visualisations and videos of

the potential future of Craylands.”

Saul Albert, The People Speak

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RAY SMITH RAMSDEN HALL SCHOOL, BILLERICAY

Ray was selected as the lead artist to work with the students and staff of Ramsden Hall School together with the project design team. His brief was to develop proposals for the integration of permanent artworks into the architecture and grounds of the new school extensions. Ray has remarked that the pupils who worked with him at Ramsden Hall School had a major input in the development of the project.

Ray has taught at Chelsea School of Art, undertaken a Linbury Trust Artist Award and had a fellowship as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Southampton. He has had numerous solo exhibitions including shows at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol and.

the Barbican, London. He has won a number of prizes and awards, including a Royal Society of Arts Art for Architecture Award.

He has work in many museums and other public collections and has made numerous publicly sited artworks in this country and abroad. Ray has also been the artist consultant on a number of new-build hospital and school projects.

Ray’s work is extremely varied and he likes to respond to new situations with fresh ideas.

www.raysmithartist.com

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THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Ray has acknowledged that Ramsden Hall School has its own particular atmosphere. A narrow curving drive takes the visitor through a mass of shrubs and large mature pine trees on each side. The long driveway effectively absorbs the visitor into the new and separate world of the school in its woodland setting. It seems miles away from the nearby suburbs of Billericay. Ray has found the self-contained aspect of the school particularly inspiring.

Head teacher Stewart Grant suggested that Ray carry out his workshops with the pupils in a soon to be derelict portakabin. There, they could “throw paint around” if they wished. Ray saw this remark as an opportunity to do just that and unrolled several metres of card so that the boys could explore the art of throwing paint. It soon became clear that there was a definite skill in flicking paint to achieve the most satisfying curves and symmetrical splashes. The pupils had a number of techniques to learn and soon became experts. This was the start of an investigation which led to the more elegant splashes and shadows of the work Off the Wall which features a frieze of screen-printed laminate panels that sweep around the curve of the corridor.

Ray also wanted to include an artwork in the grounds of the School. Ray’s idea was to incorporate an element of mystery and surprise into the already charged atmosphere of the winding woodland driveway to the School. In Roman mythology the genius loci was the spirit or atmosphere of a particular space. This was depicted as a snake. So it seemed entirely appropriate for Ray to create a serpent high in the branches of a pine tree to add to the unique atmosphere of the school grounds.

THE ARTWORKS

Off the Wall

The major work in this project features a frieze of screen-printed laminate panels that sweep around the curve of the corridor. The work is active and immediate but with a relaxed fluency. A controlled flick of the paintbrush determines the initial outcomes and variations on this technique give a number of alternative possibilities. The marks simply express the manner of their making, but their shadows add a third dimension and open up a new range of interpretations.

Phantom Python

It may not be noticed on a first visit, but curled high around the trunk of a mature pine tree along the driveway, there appears to be a large and realistic reticulated python. The snake has been carved in polystyrene, cast in fire-rated fibreglass and painted before installation. In order to make the snake fit well around the tree a mould was taken of a section of the trunk. This was cast in a studio, where it became the template for the size and shape of the snake.

NEXT STEPS

The next steps are to have further discussions with the architects relating to the colours of walls, doors and floors and to carry on making and supervising the fabrication of the work prior to installation towards the end of 2008, or at the beginning of 2009.

“The great designs produced by the pupils with Ray will be

a major enhancement to the building.”

Paul Critchley, Project Manager, Essex County Council

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ANDREW MCKEOWNEPPING PRIMARY SCHOOL

Andrew is the lead artist at Epping Primary School. The project involves the amalgamation of the current Epping Infant and Epping Junior Schools and will provide 420 places for children.

Andrew has completed many sculpture commissions throughout the UK for local councils, housing developers and environmental agencies such as Groundwork UK, Yuill, Miller and Haslam Homes. He is also a director of Platform Arts an artist-led studio group which has provided studio provision for artists on Teesside for the last eight years.

Andrew’s work is inspired by themes of growth, change and renewal and his sculptures are often cast in durable materials such as iron, steel, bronze and stone. Recently he has completed a prestigious commission, The Jewels of The Sea, at the East Shore Village housing development in Seaham, County Durham. It features over thirty large cast iron sculptures which can be randomly encountered throughout the cliff top park.

www.andrewmckeown.com

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BUILD CONTEXT

The new school will be built on the current Epping Infant School site. The existing buildings have now been demolished and the infants transferred into accommodation next to the junior school for the length of the build.

The role of the lead artist is to assist in the joining together of the two schools. The school see this process as a journey from old to new. They view working collaboratively with the artist as beneficial to all concerned.

The design team’s aim is to provide an efficient, effective and inspiring learning environment which fits well into the designated green belt site and surrounding community.

THE CREATIVE PROCESSES

Andrew’s conceptual ideas for the project have been inspired by the surrounding Epping Forest. The simple organic growth and development within Epping Forest will symbolise the joining of the new school and the closer relationship that the infant children will have with the junior school.

Andrew has used elements of the forest’s environment to inform his proposals, focusing on trees and their importance in the eco system, the relationship between fungi and algae and the migration of spores resulting in the development of new colonies.

Andrew has led workshops with the children, which have rendered many ideas that concentrate on natural forms, particularly microscopic forms and growth around the school and within Epping Forest.

Andrew’s proposed concept designs for the new building include coloured designs for the glass balustrade within the central corridor area. These explore the microscopic imagery of algae, fungus and plant. Free standing sculptures in the playground are inspired by fruiting bodies of fungi and lichens. In addition he has proposed naming each classroom after a tree in the forest.

He feels that the theme of natural life within Epping Forest provides the school with great scope for future artwork which could relate to the flora, fauna and rich diversity of life within the forest.

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JACQUELINE PONCELETFLITCH GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Jacqueline is the lead artist at Flitch Green Primary School in Little Dunmow. The aim of the project is to provide an efficient, effective and inspiring learning environment which fits well into the newly developing site and surrounding community.

Jacqueline established herself as a major figure on the international ceramics scene in the 1970s and 80s. In the 90s she diversified her practice to include painting, sculpture and public art commissions, ending the decade as one of the three curators of the British Art Show.

Her personal passion is for pattern and colour. She believes that complexity can enrich our lives and should not overwhelm us. Each element within a composition should add to the overall experience.

In recent years collaboration has become an important part of her work, whether exhibiting as an artist, curating, or working with architects. Her background in ceramics has left her with a strong interest in function, and her approach to public projects satisfies this side of her creativity.

Jacqueline has had numerous solo and public exhibitions both in the UK and abroad and has won a number of awards. She has lectured in the UK, Netherlands and Canada and one of her recent collaborations includes design work for the Child Development Unit at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital, London.

www.poncelet.me.uk

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BACKGROUND

Flitch Green Primary School is a new school that will provide 210 places, with the scope to expand to 330 places at a later phase. The school site is situated within an entirely new development of housing located on the former site of a sugar beet factory and its associated settlement ponds.

The housing scheme has been developing over several years and has now triggered the need to implement local amenities for the area, as designated by planning conditions. One of the key areas of this is the school and associated community facilities.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Jacqueline wanted to bring beauty into the centre of the school and to make it a place where every child could have a chance to display their creativity for the whole school to appreciate.

With input from the architectural team, she has designed a colour scheme for the courtyard windows and magnetic enamel panels that will line the circulation space that the children will use on a daily basis. This will embed artwork into the school design. The soft colours of the glass around the central courtyard will create a beautiful inner space that changes and is affected by constantly shifting external and internal light conditions. The enamel panels are like giant notice boards. By using magnets, the children will be able to display their work, large or small. The panels are a mix of pattern and colour with an oak leaf design. The theme of trees is continued in the entrance space with a cut out hanging sculpture made from silhouettes of leaves.

“The architect has designed a beautiful building and it’s been my intention from the start to work with him to augment it.”

Jacquieline Poncelet

“The impact Jacqui has made has been a very positive experience for all and her very early involvement has ensured true influence and integration on the design.”

Sue Frost, Project Manager, Capital Programme and Building Development, Essex County Council

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MICHAEL JOHNSONBRENTWOOD HIGH STREET

Michael is the lead artist for Brentwood High Street, part of the Town Centre Enhancement Scheme.

Michael has been working in the public art arena since 1986. The commissioning organisations he has worked with range from rural community groups, county councils and property developers to national institutions such as Norwich Union and English Nature.

He has taught in a number of educational settings including schools, universities and galleries. His work in a number of residential communities has resulted in several sited artworks. He has exhibited regularly in this country and abroad, both in larger national

venues and in smaller non-gallery venues. His aim is to make work that becomes part of the fabric of a place and contributes to our on-going heritage, encouraging people to think about the place in which they live or visit.

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BACKGROUND

The Brentwood High Street commission is within an extensive £5.4 million streetscape upgrade programme. It presents the opportunity for Michael to integrate artistic solutions into its refurbishment.

The ethos of the project is that Brentwood High Street will become a shared space scheme, a first in Essex. It will remove current infrastructure and provide opportunities for creative practical solutions to street furniture and lighting, specifying particular materials. It will also address issues such as how to improve the living, working space of the High Street and still incorporate traditional activities like ‘Brentwood in Bloom’.

The High Street will remain a two-way road with a newly designed shared surface, breaking traditional boundaries between carriageway and footway, along the central section of road. This will encourage people to drive with more care and at slower speeds, allowing more pedestrians to move freely.

Essex County Council believes streets to be the principal component of urban spatial systems and that they should be vibrant places that encourage people to feel comfortable and safe.

CREATIVE PROCESSES

Michael has been working in collaboration with a number of different partners in the scheme including engineers, designers, local authorities and the Brentwood Town Centre Partnership. During this time he has focused on the following key points:

• Uniqueness and sense of place: how an identity is created.• Interpretation: looking at the history and context of Brentwood.• Orientation: how art and design function in a pedestrian

and vehicle environment.

The design process has been in two stages. The first has been to identify an outline design approach through discussions with the partners. The second stage will involve leading workshops with community groups in Brentwood including retailers, schools and history societies. The purpose of the workshops will be to expand on the outline designs and keep people informed on the progress of the scheme. They will also include practical art making sessions such as printing, drawing and sculpture work. This stage will begin in February 2009 to coincide with the High Street upgrade.

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“My first thoughts when seeing St Thomas Chapel, Brentwood’s jewel in its heritage crown, was the relevance that the town’s origins could have to its present day.”

Michael Johnson

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Michael and Gavin on Genius Loci in Brentwood Town Centre over the last year. Our ‘place’ project is really taking shape now and the activities we have planned together, over the next few months, will provide local residents, schools groups and community groups with excellent opportunities to express and share their ideas about Brentwood.”

Jane Keane, Town Centre Manager, Brentwood Borough Council and on behalf of the Brentwood Town Centre Partnership

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MICHAEL PINSKYPARK & RIDE

Michael is the lead artist for a series of Park & Ride schemes proposed on the periphery of Chelmsford and Colchester towns as a means of reducing town centre congestion and improving accessibility and sustainability.

Michael graduated from the Royal College of Art and is a Senior Lecturer at East London University. He received an Art for Architecture award from the Royal Society of Arts and his exhibition Pontis was short listed for the prestigious Gulbenkian Museums Award.

Michael takes on the combined roles of urban planner, activist, researcher, resident and artist. Using mediums of video, performance, mapping and

programming, Michael responds site-specifically to physical and sociological space.

One of his recent projects includes Transparent Room, an Arts Council England funded installation which toured venues including Leeds City Art Gallery, Watershed and the Contemporary Art Forum, Canada.

www.michaelpinsky.com

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BACKGROUND

Michael was commissioned to integrate artwork that provided consistency and clarity within the new proposed Park & Ride schemes which are to be viewed as a network of facilities. The Park & Ride scheme proposes secure car parking for 600 vehicles, cycle parking facilities and a bus terminus building.

The design team has been asked to pay particular attention to sustainability issues, therefore, Michael’s work ethos and approach needed to compliment the green credentials of the development.

CREATIVE PROCESSES

The Park & Ride scheme is in its early development stage and the challenge for this project is to consider ideas that would be able to be implemented far into the future.

After visiting all of the potential sites with the project team, it seemed appropriate to Michael to develop a conceptual framework that could be applied to each site as it became available. The idea caught the imagination of the project engineer who inputted ideas and potential implementation methodologies. Michael has presented a series of visuals and texts to demonstrate his ideas.

The scale of the project in terms of landmass and timeframe has huge potential for the artist. It originally inspired Michael to conceive of ideas on a scale akin to American land artists of the 1960s and 70s such as Robert Smithson and Walter de Maria. Michael was interested in applying a similar scale and aesthetic to a context that could be seen as having its roots in consumerism.

In the 60s and 70s audiences might have had to hire a plane to see Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Now, with software such as Google Earth, a larger number of present-day spectators can virtually ‘fly’ across the land to view the work. This is now often people’s first view of the land. It opens up a new public realm in which artwork that still exists in the environment can only be truly perceived through the mediation of a computer.

Due to a number of changes in the project’s direction, Michael has had to reassess his original design goals of using a wide selection of sites and their linkages. He is now beginning to focus on sites specifically. This of course doesn’t alter the aims for the Park & Ride scheme but allows the design team to re-focus and develop a new way forward that builds upon structures and strengths that have already been developed.

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ROMAN VASSEURHARLOW

Roman’s role is to work with the partners regenerating the market quarter of Harlow and to formulate a strategy for the integration of art into the regeneration process and the future life of the town. As part of this project he will also programme a number of temporary projects that will inform and begin this work.

Roman graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1991. He Lives and works in London. He has exhibited at Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London, The ICA, East International ’06, Little Private Governments at Essex University Gallery, Pilot:3 at the Venice Biennale and most recently at KX Gallery Hamburg as part of the group exhibition One Way Street with

Amanda Beech, Pierre Bismuth and Jaspar Joseph Lester. The paper produced for the Tate conference: ‘John Stuart Mill Exterminates His Father’ was published in January 2008 in the first edition of Material, a Los Angeles and London based journal of writings by artists.

He is currently Senior Lecturer in the School of Fine Arts, UWE, Bristol. He has lectured at various institutions including Wimbledon College of Art, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, Tate Britain, University Iuav, Venice and the Royal College of Art.

His work seeks to act out epic, often filmic, and political narratives via specific socio-economic realities.

www.vargas.org.uk/artists/roman_vasseur

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BACKGROUND

The Government has proposed substantial growth of housing and employment in Harlow through the East of England Plan. Harlow is defined as a key centre for development and change in the draft Plan, with the construction of approximately 16,000 new dwellings proposed by 2021. The proposed growth provides an excellent opportunity to bring together partners from the public and private sectors to invest in Harlow, ensuring it takes its rightful place as a town of regional importance.

Harlow is a town designed and built after the Second World War, entirely master-planned by the late Sir Frederick Gibberd and in possession of the largest municipal collection of post-war sculpture in Britain.

CREATIVE INTERVENTION FOR HARLOW

Roman’s programme begins with a number of contemporary art commissions in Harlow titled

‘Art and the new town’ Let us pray for those Now Residing in the Designated Area. The title comes from the beginning of the dedication prayer used when Harlow was created. The projects will be located at Market Square, St Paul’s Church and Barnabas Hall and include a temporary gallery space featuring six exhibitions and a programme

of public talks and performances to accompany the work.

Roman states that he is “keen to reassess and represent the work of Gibberd as a project driven by romantic imperatives conditioned by the social and economic parameters of its time. The town is now an historical ‘new town’ and provides a rare opportunity to consider a modernist vision as both a living entity and romantic folly. The temporary projects will ask how might it be possible to re-engage with the complexity of this period in order to make new meanings from an archaeology of what was once our future. The projects will also consider how Gibberd’s ideal citizen relates to the citizen of Harlow’s present and what role he/she has in marrying their own utopias with the masterplanner’s grand utopia and within the walls and gardens of his vision.”

Designs by Roman and Diann Bauer are now complete for the temporary installation of a gallery space in Market Square with the anticipation that the adapted gallery will arrive in Harlow by mid October. This venue, St. Paul’s Church and its neighbouring Barnabas Hall will act as venues for the programme of events and exhibitions that will take place in November and December 2008.

It will include a new film by Amanda Beech filmed at Gibberd House and Bishopsfield, and a public talks programme developed by Essex University with participants including the international artist Bob & Roberta Smith.

Performances by Wayne Lloyd, together with his resulting artwork and comic book, will provide a continuous thread between the different events.

Roman’s current work with the preferred developer’s design team is resulting in a growing understanding of how future spaces and landscaping can anticipate a rolling programme of temporary visual art commissions as a core aspect of the wider visual arts strategy.

Overall, the work is showing evidence of success. Roman’s input is recognised by partners as adding a unique component to the scheme.

It is an exciting approach and is viewed positively. In the coming months, the strength of this work can be used to develop a wider discussion about art in Harlow and the potential generation of resources, including the Percent for Art scheme.

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“Harlow was developed in the post-war period as a New Town, based upon innovative master planning and design concepts, with a vast collection of art, public art and sculpture sited around the town. At this critical stage in the town’s history, with large-scale regeneration, housing growth and investment plans, the role of the lead artist is to build on this strong sense of place and ensure public art is central to the future of the town.”

Ian Hatton, Senior Regeneration and Policy Manager, Essex County Council

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BRUCE WILLIAMSTURNER VILLAGE/QUEEN BOUDICCA SCHOOL

The aim of the project is to integrate visual arts and crafts into the architecture and grounds of the new primary school building, thereby enhancing the environment and raising the aspiration of pupils, staff and others working in, and visiting, the school.

Bruce works primarily in the public realm, creating works of art in response to commissions tendered by local government, public art agencies and private developers. His career has been marked by high-profile projects, both permanent and temporary and usually on a grand scale. Bruce’s largest single image to date is Water Wings, a dramatic eight by four metre image for Blackpool sea front. The work

explores imagery beyond the figure and incorporates a unique, specially designed lighting system.

Since 2005 he has been consultant artist for the North Swindon Schools development, designing integral digital glass works for the atriums and school halls of seven schools. Four layered sculptures were installed in early 2008.

In the course of making public art works over the last twenty years he has always tried to make work which is centred on the people and the places they are designed for.

www.brucewilliams.net

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PROJECT INFORMATION

The new school is part of a wider new housing development in North Colchester with plans for a new link road and roundabout. Whilst the project was in its early stages, Bruce and the architect discussed possible areas of collaboration and development such as the outdoor play and learning space at the school, types of materials that could be used in the building, how quiet spaces are accessed and other acoustic possibilities.

The new school must provide some multi-use for the community but the overall aim of the project is to provide an efficient, effective and inspiring learning environment that fits well into the designated site and surrounding community.

CREATIVE PROCESSES

The school is located almost next door to High Woods Country Park and Bruce’s overarching idea for his proposals is to bring some of this natural environment into the fabric of the new school building. The first evidence of this will be seen on approaching the school when visitors will pass through a line of cast silver birch trees which hold up the overhanging roof.

Bruce proposes that the door handles will not be selected from a catalogue but collected from the forest floor by children from Mylands and North Primary Schools. The selected branches will be cast in bronze and transformed into door handles. The bronze itself will change colour and brightness as it is constantly handled by thousands of hands.

The corridor which runs down the centre of the building is the route to all classrooms. It is lit by natural daylight which comes through a number of skylights. Here light will be filtered through laser cut steel grills which mimic the tree canopies of High Woods. Photographs taken in the woods by the children and Bruce will be arranged in layers to cast dappled shadows across the corridor.

Bruce is also developing ideas for other areas of the school in partnership with the architect. Ideas include printing images on the glass classroom partitions and outdoor sculptures.

“I had imagined that I would be making one large artwork for the

school but in fact, the project has grown and developed in unexpected ways. This

growth has come from a formal and informal exchange with

teachers, pupils, the architects, material specialists and park

rangers. Some ideas have fallen by the wayside but others

are flourishing through our collaborative endeavour.”

Bruce Williams

“We have been thoroughly enjoying our dialogue with the artist and believe that his input

will add a layer of richness to the scheme. For example, we

are eagerly anticipating the effect of the artist’s proposed

leaf design to the underside of the skylights within the corridor to the classroom block that will transform this circulation space

in terms of daylight and shadowing.”

Michael Florides, bhp architects

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NAYAN KULKARNISADLERS FARM

Nayan is working as an integral part of the design team to provide the strategic inclusion of public art in the ongoing design development of Sadlers Farm highway improvements. It is anticipated that the involvement of an artist at an early stage in the design process will ensure complete integration into the scheme and form a benchmark for major commissions within future road infrastructure works in Essex.

For over a decade Nayan’s art practice has informed a series of diverse public realm and architectural collaborations. All of his work comes out of an engagement with notions of place and experience, underpinned by his fascination with light, technology, material and architectonic structure.

His past projects have included integrated

architectural interventions in the public realm, light and art elements in urban design frameworks, lighting strategies, temporary installations, landscape based sculptural interventions and public art strategies. His studio work has been shown extensively in the UK and abroad.

Recent and on-going collaborations and design partnerships include Moment Southampton, Shoal Cardiff, Cascade Derby, Nocturne Newcastle/Gateshead, Sky Mirror Birmingham, Breaking Boundaries Ashford and Blink & Shimmer Parkland Gateway Corby.

Nayan is interested in the moments where light, people, structure and space work together.

www.nkprojects.co.uk

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BACKGROUND TO THE SCHEME

The A13/A130 Sadlers Farm junction forms part of the strategic highway networks serving the Essex Thames Gateway (ETG). The existing junction is currently subject to severe congestion and the planned development in the ETG would further increase the traffic demand.

Subsequently, Sadlers Farm was identified as presenting a major opportunity for the commissioning of an integrated public art project and developing a collaborative working practice for the County.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

The vision for this project is to create a distinct ‘place’ which is set apart and made more visible through high quality design, engineering and art. Nayan has been working in parallel with the design team to contribute another layer to the road improvements. This means that any proposals realised through the project become integrated into the main works on site.

Nayan considers that this critical piece of transport infrastructure creates a complex set of conceptual, formal and technical challenges through which artworks can grow. He is excited by the opportunity to contribute to the way that a new linear landscape can be informed and transformed through the agency of contemporary art.

The identification of appropriate opportunities at this site is an important part of the design process. Areas for consideration might include contributions to the landscape, cuttings, bridge structures as well as cycle and pedestrian links.

Nayan believes that the Sadlers Farm project comes at a time of rapid change in the Thames Estuary. The relationships between economic and social development that will play out in this area of England through the agency of rapid population growth and demographic change are going to be extremely interesting. This means that

large-scale infrastructure changes will become the focus of public debate.

The concept proposals have developed from an initial extensive period of research and creative development. At the centre of this primary work two questions acted as guides: What makes a place? What makes a great road? From this research notions of landscape intervention emerged that could exploit the possibilities that the new road forms produces.

The concept Oasis: Five Gardens for Essex seeks to challenge the dominant language of road landscape design through proposing ideas of narrative and issues of experience at the forefront of the design.

Nayan and the design team will work in partnership to maximise quality, value and simplicity of construction and maintenance.

“The sources from the concepts come from many places. However, the Essex location and scale of the proposed changes to the local landscape interest me. Inspiration is as varied as a small tyre used as a planter at the Watt Tyler Country Park and as complex as the communities that visit Pitsea Cemetery. In other words, the local landscape.”

Nayan Kulkarni

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OPEN SPACE PROGRAMME

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OPEN SPACE PROGRAMME

The Open Space programme is a series of four temporary projects, curated by Jane Watt, that will take place in 2009. Matt Cook, Gordon Flemons, Miranda Sharp, Damien Robinson & Stuart Bowditch, who are all either based in Essex, or who have a strong connection with Essex, have been appointed to make work in Harlow, Colchester and Basildon.

The Open Space programme is an opportunity for the selected artists to create a higher public visibility for Genius Loci whilst the major commissions are realised and to present new processes and works of contemporary art to local audiences.

The temporary projects will encourage an immediacy in approach and production which will attempt to test new ways of working and interacting with public space. Temporary public works are often, by their very nature, more open ended, not seeking to answer questions, but rather pose them. As the American art critic Patricia C. Phillips puts it: “The point is not just to produce another thing for people to admire, but to create an opportunity

– a situation – that enables viewers to look back at the world with renewed perspectives and clear angles of vision.”1

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

listening, looking, feeling, walking, talking, mapping, capturing, archiving, writing, photographing, filming, recording, sketching, proposing, making, discovering, revisiting, re-examining, consolidating, challenging, highlighting.

These are some of the things that Matt, Gordon, Miranda, Damien & Stuart will be doing in Colchester, Basildon, Harlow and environs over the next twelve months to create a series of temporary works for the Open Space programme.

ASPIRATIONS

Individually these activities are nothing out of the ordinary. But with the artists’ intensity of purpose, and collective imagining, Open Space curator, Jane Watt, hopes that new understandings of the ‘spirit of place’ can emerge for the artists, as well as the individuals who encounter the works as process, or as presented works in the public realm. Perhaps, then, these ordinary types of actions will be viewed as valuable ways in which we can continue an ongoing and meaningful engagement with the environment in which we live.

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1Patricia C. Phillips ‘Public Constructions’ in Suzanne Lacy (ed.) Mapping the Terrain: new genre public art, Seattle: Bay Press, 1995, pp60-71.

JANE WATTCURATOR

Jane Watt is a visual artist, researcher and writer based in London. She has made installations and specific work in the public realm since 1994. Her work is largely project-based. She often develops her practice in site-specific contexts and she collaborates with a number of professionals from other specialisms including architecture and design, as well as community individuals and groups.

www.janewattprojects.com

“The Open Space programme is key to our Genius Loci work, as it provides the opportunity for artists to take risks in their creativity and develop exciting temporary spaces in the public realm.

This programme becomes the glue that starts to connect all our projects together and begins to form our foundations in making Essex an exciting and vibrant place to live.”

Gavin Hodson, Public Art Officer, Essex County Council

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MATT COOK

The basis for Matt Cook’s art practice is in creating works of sound, performance and installation. He takes influence from urban geography, cultural history, natural rhythm and everyday life. He hopes to represent the world in a way that will enable people to view their environment differently and notice ambient elements of the world they would normally ignore.

www.sciencefidelity.co.uk

MIRANDA SHARP

Miranda Sharp was awarded a first class degree in Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art in 2002. Her work is often concerned with the psychological effect of the institutional spaces we find ourselves in and an unyielding desire for intimacy in those public spaces. She works using photography, video, Super 8, performance, installation, text and direct engagement with the public.

www.mirandasharp.com

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STUART BOWDITCH

Stuart Bowditch is an artist, DJ and music producer, working on installations, songs and soundtracks and is fascinated by the sounds of the world around him. He interacts with the environment to collect everyday sounds from objects and subjects, industrial and public spaces. He has worked collaboratively with Damien Robinson on several national and international sound installation projects.

www.stuartbowditch.co.uk

DAMIEN ROBINSON

Damien Robinson is an artist working with digital media focusing on the interplay between images, sounds and vibrations. Her practice involves exploring systems for recording and playing sound using the aspects that can be felt as vibration, which she refers to as ‘feel-sound’, as well as, or instead of, being heard. In addition, she develops visuals which complement and enhance the feel-sound experience.

www.damienrobinson.co.uk

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GORDON FLEMONS

Gordon Flemon’s practice is grounded in the trilectic of space, time and social being, expressed by the geographer Edward Soja. As such the work is closely integrated with its location. Bordering on performance, the animated sculptures and installations are frequently made in the public arena, inviting questions, and placing engagement with the viewer, or audience, at the centre of his way of working.

www.gordonflemons.com

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ALEX MURDINMARTELLO TOWER, JAYWICK

Alex Murdin is a writer, curator and artist who has developed numerous projects in public places, in both urban and rural settings. He is currently developing a PhD at Dartington College of Arts on ‘Art in public spaces and the politics of rural leisure: access, environment and inclusion.’

As part of this research work he set up Rural Recreation, a grassroots campaigning body which puts forward new views and develops action research projects on the issues of access, environment and audience inclusion in the British countryside.

Alex’s past work includes acting as a public art advisor to both public sector commissioners and private developers, and initiating his own projects in a variety of contexts. A recent project Inclusive Path was developed in Cumbria as part of the FRED public art festival. He is the current recipient of a Bright Sparks award, a unique funding scheme developed by Landscape+Arts Network Services, which supports artists and other creative professionals to develop ideas and research which explore the physical and social aspects of open spaces.

www.ruralrecreation.org.uk

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David Cotterrell’s work invades public spaces in unexpected ways. He is interested in how artists can influence policy and also how the role of the artist may act as a social commentator and instigate debate. He has completed investigations into public art strategies, engaged with local communities and developed new technologies which have allowed people to publish anecdotes about their city. Working in a variety of mediums to develop his projects, including film, sound, interactive media, artificial intelligence and hybrid technology, David’s art practice focuses on the political and social

aspects of our society, while always remaining sensitive and specific to each place that he works

Over the last ten years, David’s work has been commissioned and exhibited in North America, Europe and the Far East, in gallery spaces, museums and within the public realm. He has recently completed an RSA Arts & Ecology residency in Kabul, Afghanistan as well as having spent time with the Royal Army Medical Corps and Royal Marine Commandos at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan.

www.cotterrell.com

DAVID COTTERRELLMARTELLO TOWER, JAYWICK

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BACKGROUND

Martello Tower C is one of 103 Martello towers constructed along the south and east coast line from 1803-1812 in response to the threat of a Napoleonic invasion in the early nineteenth century. The towers are constructed from extremely thick brickwork, over two metres thick, with a slightly battered profile and they were consequently very effective in resisting cannon balls.

The towers never saw any action in the Napoleonic war and soon became obsolete because developments in heavy artillery, for example exploding shells, meant that they were easily penetrable. Many of the towers including tower C were used during the two World Wars as lookout points or gun emplacements and many were heavily adapted for the purpose.

Since the re-opening of Jaywick Martello Tower in 2005, a series of community led arts projects have inspired recent developments. The new vision of the Tower is to incorporate themes most relevant to the area’s assets: community, heritage and environment. This has led to the introduction of Arcadia Revisited a partnership funded programme of work which is a creative-led process by artists Alex Murdin and David Cotterrell that explores the notions of arcadia in relation to coastal leisure and tourism to help capture the genius loci, spirit of place.

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THE PROJECT

Arcadia Revisited aims to explore the ‘essence’ of Jaywick – the social, cultural, historical and environmental elements that contribute to a sense of place. Drawing on the ancient Greek concept of ‘arcadia’ as an idyllic vision of the wilderness, Arcadia Revisited looks again at the original utopian vision that led to the creation of holiday communities such as Jaywick. During summer, David and Alex worked with the people of Jaywick to develop a creative project which investigates what this arcadia vision means today and what it could mean in the future.

This vision will be shared with the professionals of Essex County Council and Tendring District Council.

This is a cross-disciplinary project. The resulting partnerships will be established through creative participation, as well as the resulting new approaches that could inform future practice in the redevelopment of coastal areas. It will also develop a methodology for analysis and visioning for future developments taking into account the valuable social and physical heritage of an area.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Having spent time learning how to use the same software used in aviation simulators, David will be using this immersive environment software to develop interactive maps of Jaywick where local people are invited and encouraged to contribute their views, memories, photos, voices and other information. For the first time this information will be made available to professionals at Essex and Tendring Councils and aims to form a two way communication.

Combining the spirit of place with the environmental shift in the landscape, Alex will investigate how the impact of coastal erosion could inform a new landscape and leisure provision within the future planning. Working at a conceptual level, he can look at how Jaywick sits within the cultural profile of the Sunshine Coast of Tendring in Essex, as well as how the environment may alter that.

Alex’s practice then explores the possibility of combining elements to provide unique leisure opportunities that can also be educational in raising awareness of natural habitats. With this project, Alex will look to make physical connections between David’s exploration of social heritage and the natural and man-made changes in the Jaywick environment.

“Jaywick is a place with a unique history and heritage that deserves to be better known, a place where the community has created a DIY holiday resort of immense character. I’m hoping that any work we do at Jaywick will support this community of residents and visitors alike to sustain a relationship with the stark beauty of the marshes and the ever changing seascape as the environment and society changes in the future.”

Alex Murdin

“Despite the established consultation processes within planning, there still remains a perceptual divide between external consultants and ‘local residents’ understanding of place, value and community. This project will not resolve this issue, but it may serve to create prototype mechanisms to re-evaluate the existing hierarchies of information and raise questions about the historic weaknesses in transparent communication between those who are designing landscape and those who live within it.”

David Cotterrell

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ALL LEAD ARTISTS ARE YET TO BE COMMISSIONED FOR THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS

GATEWAY TO ESSEX - A MAJOR STRATEGIC COMMISSION

Essex County Council commissioned a report by CBAT in 2005 (ref: Public Art in the Transportation Systems of Essex County Council | CBAT | 2005) to survey suitable locations for a major gateway to the County.

They have suggested a variety of possible locations, these being;

1. M11 junction 8 2. M25 junction 27 with A127 3. M25 junction 28 with A12 4. M25 junction 30/31 with A13 5. Sadlers Farm new carriageway 6. A120 junction with A12 at Colchester 7. Harwich Port and Bathside Bay

The role of the Public Art Strategy Group is to investigate these possible locations as a future suitable site for a major gateway to Essex.

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING CENTRE, WICKFORD

A flexible and innovative Collaborative Learning Centre (CLC) serving the Wickford area is to be built on the The Bromfords Secondary School site at a cost of £3.5m. The CLC will be used by all of the primary schools and special schools in Wickford. It will be an eco-friendly building with large flexible spaces for specialist activities and state of the art ICT facilities.

SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS PUBLIC SQUARE IMPROVEMENTS

The major elements for this scheme are to develop and improve the current Trinity Square area that include aspirations for the development on the church and school sites. The opportunity to combine proposed highways work with the needs of the community offer exciting implications for the future of the town.

SPRINGWOOD DRIVE WASTE RE-CYCLING CENTRE

This is the development of a new waste re-cycling centre in Braintree that offers the commissioning of a lead artist to work with the design team and help to enhance the scheme. The entrance to the site has been pin pointed as an area of possible artistic intervention.

South Woodham

Wickford

Jaywick

Chelmsford

Brentwood

Harlow

Epping

Braintree

Colchester

StanstedHarwich

Basildon

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

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South Woodham Ferrers

Wickford

Jaywick

Chelmsford

Brentwood

Harlow

Epping

Braintree

Colchester

StanstedHarwich

Basildon

Nayan Kulkarni

Bruce Williams

Damien Robinson

Stuart Bowditch

Alex Murdin & David Cotterrell

Gordon Flemons

Michael Pinsky

Ray Smith

Miranda Sharp

The People Speak

Michael Johnson

Andy McKeown

Matt Cook

Roman Vasseur

Jacqueline Poncelet

Projects in Development

PROJECT LOCATION MAP

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THE FUTURE

Our aim for Genius Loci is that it forms an integral part of our overall public art strategy to enhance and improve the image of the County of Essex nationally and internationally, as an exciting, forward looking and inspiring location. To achieve this we must continue to install a working practice of commissioning artists as early as possible as a valued member of the design team, produce high quality artwork, build upon the foundations we are currently creating, develop strong partnerships and have a coherent vision of public art within Essex, and how it can compliment or inform other art processes.

Our journey so far couldn’t have been achieved without the delivery skills of Commissions East in a number of our projects. From a personal perspective, having the opportunity to work closely with such an exciting and forward looking group of artists and professionals over a sustained period of time delivering Genius Loci has been an exciting addition to the programme allowing a studio feel to develop through good conversation, honesty, communication, group meetings, peer reviews and the exchange of skills and understanding through different disciplines. A factor in this has been the introduction of the artist electronic sketchbook, which has allowed the artists to communicate informally online, create a gallery of their images and share ideas between themselves.

I find that the role I have in commissioning artists in areas where traditionally it’s not been an accepted policy is fantastic. We need to show not only what tremendous skills artists can offer to the public realm but to do this we have to deliver quality, provide a legacy of skills, inspire and continue to prove our worth and value to the public and the decision makers. We are all working together to enhance Essex arts culture and understand-ing and if we continue to build on these foundations, deliver successful projects and offer the quality skills from artists which are available, perhaps one day this process will be an accepted norm.

GAVIN HODSONBUILT ENVIRONMENT OFFICER, ECC

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PARTNERS

Access to Work | Art in Architecture | Arts & Business | Arts Council England | Arts Development, Essex County Council | Basildon Borough Council | Birse Civils Ltd | Brentwood Borough Council | Bryant Harvey Partnership Architects | Built Environment, Essex County Council | Capital Programme & Building Development, Essex County Council | Commissions East | Community, Planning & Regeneration, Essex County Council | Creative Partnerships | Development, Highways & Transportation, Essex County Council | EEDA | English Partnerships | Epping Primary School | Essex Community Foundation | Essex University | Flitch Green Primary School | Friends of Brooklands | Harlow Arts Trust | Harlow Borough Council | Harlow Civic Trust | Harlow Renaissance | Interaction: Neighbourhood Management Renewal | Jaywick Agencies Group | Jaywick Community Programming Fund | LAND group: Princes Trust | LANS | Mouchel | nps architects | Park Resorts | Ramsden Hall School | Stanley Bragg Partnership Limited | Swan Housing | TDC | Tending District Council (Regeneration, Tourism) | Town Centre Partnership (Brentwood) | Turner Village/Queen Boudicca Primary School | University of West England | Waste & Recycling, Essex County Council | Writtle College

COMMISSIONS EAST

The Genius Loci Open Space Programme together with the projects for Harlow, Basildon and Sadlers Farm were developed for Essex County Council by Commissions East.

www.commissionseast.org.uk

INFORMATIONFor further information please contact the Public Art Team at Environment, Sustainability & Highways, Built Environment, County Hall, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1QH.

The promotion of public art is supported through the Essex Design Initiative (EDI) which aims to establish sustainable growth and improve the built environment within new developments in Essex. Its programmes and publications champion quality in urban design through training, design guidance and the coordination of a Design Champions network.

Telephone: 01245 437521 or 01245 436553

Email: gavin.hodson@essex.gov.uk

Web: www.the-edi.co.uk www.essex.gov.uk

Electronic copies of this publication can be downloaded from the above websites.

Photo Credits

Page 44, Matt Cook, Artist Becomes Aeroplane, Richard Huw Morgan

Page 45, Damien Robinson, Benedict Johnson and Metal

Page 46, Gordon Flemons, J Townshend

Cover image, pages 47-48 and 53-54 Alex Murdin

Published November 2008.

The Authors of this document are The Public Art Team, Essex County Council.

Designed by Terry Moore.

The images contained in this document are the copyright of the individual artist. No images may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or information storage) without permission from the copyright holder. For further information on the artists please contact the Public Art Team.

All effort has been made to ensure that the information provided was correct at time of publication.

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“I found Genius Loci an exciting and quite visionary concept. Ray Smith’s very presence in the school has made it so worthwhile and my pupils will vouch for that. Whatever else happens in terms of public art will be testament to a superb partnership.”

Stewart Grant, Head Teacher, Ramsden Hall School