Art
THE GLASS ENTRANCE - ANNE SMYTH
Anne’s aim for this piece – to ‘bring rhythms of nature & growth into this built environment’, was achieved by working with local people on designs based on fruit & vegetables which express health, ripeness, natural rhythm & energy. These designs were a direct result of her work with local people: ‘the lively workshops provided me with a fresh way of looking and enabled me to focus in a simpler way on these wonderful patterns and textures.’
THE STAIRCASE, RECEPTION DESK & BALUSTRADING - WALTER JACK STUDIO
Walter’s designs reflect the brief for ‘warmth’, ‘light’ and wood’. He wanted the stair to be a sculpture and has created a single birch fish shape which leaps from ground to first floor in a single bound. The steelwork alone took six months to build and fit, and credit is given to colleague Paul Channing for resolving the complex geometry so successfully.
THE CERAMIC FLOOR MOSAICS AND LEAD ARTIST - MARION BRANDIS
Marion was the Lead Artist , ensuring that all the artists’ commissions formed a whole and fulfilled the brief set by residents. Initially Marion ran workshops for residents to get a sense of the colour scheme for the art works and she then went on to design and make the porcelain floor pieces set in the front courtyard and reception area, incorporating work of local people. Hannah More School children inspired the ‘feel good symbols used in the ‘maze’.
THE GATES - JULIAN COODE
Julian’s design evolved from sketches and written observations about the relationships between the entrance, courtyard and building: the shadows the gates would cast when open and closed; and the relationship with the other artists’ work. He says: ‘a blacksmith’s work is always pragmatic; the issues of security, vandalism, maintenance and long term life of the metalwork go alongside the more aesthetic ideas of line, light, form and colour.’
SOURCE (SCULPTURE IN FRONT COURTYARD) - MAT CHIVERS
Mat says: ’I was excited by the resident’s clear vision of how they perceived their communal space to be - particularly in their desire for the sculpture to involve water to inspire and induce a sense of positivity’. Carved by hand from a 2.5 ton block of Irish Kilkenny limestone, Mat has used the spiral which he feels ‘is an archetypal form evident in growth; from the very make-up of the universe to the microscopic world.’
REG (SCULPTURE IN RECEPTION) - LUCY CASSON
Lucy was inspired to make the sculpture by the people she met in the area, and the concept of a Healthy Living Centre and named it after Reg Gregory, a local resident committed to the vision and development of Wellspring. It adds an element of humour to the reception area and gives it a human touch. The commission was an opportunity for Lucy to work in a new way with Jesmonite (plaster) which is patterned with Portland stone dust and terrazzo coloured pieces.
THE SIGNAGE - SPRINGBOARD DESIGN
‘Since time began communities have grown up around sources of water: the idea for the external sign for Wellspring came from the image of a bubbling spring, a source of life and supplier of nutrients from deep within the Earth.’ The interior signs have been designed to help people who have low levels of literacy, and for whom English is not their first language.
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