University Sculpture Trail

Writing about web page http://vgallery.warwick.ac.uk/gallery/ExhibitionPaged.do?path=h_1/g_101/e_c_12&controlLock=0&datapanelLock=0

Last night Emma and I joined the Warwick Staff Walking Group on a short walk around the sculpture trail. This was organised by Jan Scrine , who also organised drinks and snacks afterwards. The tour was led by the curator of the Mead Gallery and the University Art Collection , Sarah Shalgosky.

As we had only a short period of time before it would be too dark, we could only do half of the trail, but it was still fascinating. The guided version of the trail is designed for school parties, although in this case it was adapted perfectly for the walking group. For each sculpture, Sarah asked interesting questions about how it was created and why it is as it is. Emma is head of KS1 at a local primary school, and leads the use of art as a means of teaching, so was very interested in this.

The sculptures that we looked at were:

• 3B Series 1 by Bernard Schotlander – the assemblage of red shapes opposite Rootes Residence;
• Let's Not Be Stupid by Richard Deacon – the giant steel and aluminium sculpture between Rootes and the Arts Centre. Sarah got us to move around this, focusing on how it uses 'negative space' to frame the University, and how it relates 3-d forms to 2-d drawings;
• Dark At Heart by Peter Randall-Page – this presents a sense of something very ancient, fossilised even, protectively wrapped in itself;
• The Higham Bight series of carvings by Keir Smith – of personal interest to Emma as she is from the area of Kent that they are about;
• Op Mobile No. 10 by Nechemia Azaz – the beautiful soaring eagle in the Arts Centre;
• White Koan by Lilian Lijn – a fascinating woman and a really special part of the University.

These are just part of the collection of artworks on campus, there are over 800 of them displayed around the University. You can see more of them online at the University of Warwick Art Collection web site. If you get a chance to do the Sculpture Trail, do so, it's great.

Once it got dark, we returned to the Mead Gallery, which houses temporary exhibitions by contemporary artists. Sarah gave an informative talk about the Mead, and about the current exhibitions. I'm particularly impressed with New Life by David Burrows, which is currently showing (more blogging on that soon). The Mead is free and open until 9pm. You can get more information on the Mead's website .

Robert O'Toole : 14 Oct 2004 14:28 |  Tags: Bmw Gs Motorcycle Travel Travel Travel And Motorcycles Travel Writing Writing |  Comments (3) |  Report a problem