SCULPTURES
“Concrete Tree” for the new sea front in St. Helier, Jersey. The sculpture will resemble a healthy two hundred-year-old oak tree with a layered canopy in the fashion of a Cedar of Lebanon. The tree will be sited at a focal point on an otherwise exposed and barren length of sea wall. The height of the tree will be approximately 7m high. The artist’s impression gives an appreciation of the sale and nature of the sculpture.
From close observation, the base of the trunk will be seen to be carved from stone or sculptured in concrete with roots set to frame other stone artefacts. The specification for the concrete will maximise the viable life of the sculpture and include stainless steel reinforcement and air entrained concrete.
“Tide, Time and the Moon”
for Helix Arts by Colin Wilbourne, Craig Knowles and Carl Fisher. This
apparently simple sculpture entailed complex structural specification
and detailing. The work involved construction of seven 1.2m diameter
concrete bowls placed on the beach north of Sunderland. Foundations
were designed to resist wave forces for three very different ground
conditions.
Materials used in this most hostile of environment were revolutionary. The concrete contained inhibitors to reduce risk of corrosion of reinforcement. Smooth internal finishes were produced using self-compacting concrete placed within a spun steel internal shutter and a fibreglass external shutter. Failures and successes in the pouring of the bowls have helped develop the technology of concrete and the durability is being monitored with interest.
“Steel Tree” for Helix Arts
by Carl Fisher, a member of Colin Wilbourne’s team for the Wear
Riverside Art Project. Although this steel sculpture was designed and
created by the artist, the 20m high structure needed to be modelled on
a computer to assess its structural stability.
Artists tend to push materials to the limit of their capabilities and
methods of construction tend to differ from the usual site techniques
