Presenting new public art to new audiences in Wimbledon
Art Art in the Park - Three temporary projects in Cannizaro Park, Westside Wimbledon Common
Art Works in
> Art in the Park
> Flor Kent
> Jon Griffiths
> Case Study: Keith Wilson
> The Millennium Fountain by Richard Rome
Art in the Park has developed into a semi regular programme of temporary site-specific, or site sensitive, interventions by artists in this Grade II* listed public garden. It arose from my involvement with the Friends of Cannizaro Park, an independent voluntary group founded in 1996 to ensure that this 32-acre Park, celebrated for its rich and varied collection of trees, rhododendrons and azaleas, continued to qualify for its listing in the face of growing pressure on the local authority to cut its park spending. The Friends have initiated several projects to raise public awareness and enjoyment of the flora, history and fauna of the Park. All are organised voluntarily, including this programme of art commissions, the direct costs of which are borne totally by special fund-raising.
Flor Kent – Iris after the Flood
July-August 2000
The first project was a ‘dry run’ to show to visitors, artists, the local authority and the Friends committee that short-term projects could be organised and promoted. Flor Kent's artwork had been included in that summer’s MA show by Wimbledon School of Art, an exhibition presented in the park for many years. The installation was site-specific and inspired by the changing climate. Placed in the pond by the gates into the Kitchen Garden, it was constructed by a piece of opaque fluted polycarbonate sheeting, curved around an armature hidden below the surface of the water. Light played on and around the work and the pond-side flora; it reflected off the pond rippled by the movement of ducks to create fleeting iridescent effects of colour. That year the pond had overflowed to engulf the surrounding path; gradually the water receded. As it looked so good I asked whether it could stay in place during the four-week open-air theatre season that is an annual event in the Park calendar and undoubtedly the Park’s busiest season. Text panels on the noticeboards at the Park entrances drew it and its creator to visitors’ attention and provided a context for the piece.
Jon Griffiths – CABIN
29 September-
In contrast with Keith Wilson’s installation that was in the Park for five months, the third project was on display for eight days. I like these different rhythms in display, although they can be dictated by the nature of the work, as here.
Jon Griffiths’ remarkable artwork CABIN was a rustic hut in the ‘wilderness’, a living space that had the artist present throughout its time in the park. CABIN touched on the desire 'to get away from it all' with a dose of the reality of living on the land. Jon’s work embodied his response to the visionary utopians of past eras, especially to the nineteenth-century American man of letters, Henry David Thoreau, who lived for two years in a cabin by
During ten days’ residence, Jon met park staff and numerous visitors who talked to him about his work and the ideas behind it, its location and the practicalities of his chosen (temporary) lifestyle. An Open Day brought even more people to the park to meet Jon and also to visit the artists’ studios managed by ACAVA, the artists’ studios association which, in spring 2004, opened seven studios in former potting sheds in the Park.
In addition, there were visits during the week by students from Wimbledon School of Art and from
Case Study
Keith Wilson - Liberty Pound
The second project took its momentum from Flor
Commission I had wanted Keith Wilson to make a work for the Park since the outset of the Art in the Park programme. One reason was that Wilson is one of the most forward-looking sculptors working in Britain today in terms of thinking about what sculpture can be. What he produces exists equally within the sphere of ideas and in the world of materiality. His work sends out ripples that the most talented younger artists respond to. Another reason was his interest in awkward social spaces, his sense of the past within nprecedented ‘modern’ objects, and his preference for propositions rather than conclusions. When he began to use forms derived from animal pens, we agreed that our ideas were converging.
Partnership All projects draw in the Council’s parks officers to approve proposals and
decide on their safety (the Council provided public liability cover). In addition Liberty Pound involved local traders (for advertising), local press (a magazine sponsored the colour leaflet), the Commons Conservators, the local-history museum, students at Wimbledon School of Art and at Wimbledon College, the borough’s largest state secondary.
Funding The commissions could proceed only once funding was secured, and early commitments from The Henry Moore Foundation and ACE made this possible. Time & Leisure magazine contributed to the cost of printing 3,000 six-page colour leaflets.
Education Keith Wilson and I worked with Year 12 A-levels art students at
College during their Easter term. The objectives were (1) to introduce them to the Park; (2) to work with a professional artist; (3) to explore themes like process, concept, materials, siting in the genesis of the commission; and (4) to have a memorable experience that might lead some to pursue fine art at HE level. Over three sessions, the students got to know about the project; absorbed the themes into a group project for the term; visited Keith’s Southwark studio and spent time at Bloomberg Space during the ‘
Marketing The objective was to attract an audience to the Park, primarily locally with press coverage and distributing the promotional leaflet through shops, libraries and amenity groups. Shops adjacent to bus stops displayed a poster. E-mail, the internet (especially the Council website) and public electronic information boards at
Documentation and follow-up The illustrated report was distributed to our partners to bring together all aspects of the project, to mark their contributions, and to generate expectation for future events. Expectation underpins the essential sustainability of the project. Contact was also made with galleries outside
The Millennium Fountain
A water feature commissioned from sculptor Richard Rome
In January 2001, Christopher Frayling, rector of the Royal College of Art and now also chairman of Arts Council England, led an inauguration ceremony of a two-tonne bronze sculpture by Richard Rome. In no time at all, the Millennium Fountain was known widely as ‘the Teapot’. A further accolade came in 2003 when the sculpture introduced the booklet from the Council explaining to every household its council tax calculation!
The award to Richard Rome, a highly experienced sculptor and bronze caster who has exhibited in
Commitments to fund the project were crucial before we could get underway, and Merton Council acknowledged it did not have the funds beyond offering help in kind and providing a new pump. The period from November 1998 to April 1999 was dominated by the search for funds and for agreeing a template for the project and its administration. A bid to The Constance Fund, a trust set up in 1946 and administered by the RBS, resulted in an offer to fund almost every aspect, a figure later augmented by Merton’s offer to fund and prepare the site. The total budget was c.£70,000, and the project came in under cost and only six weeks behind schedule.
Project manager: Martin Holman
Foundry: Nautilus
Site preparation: LBM and Serck & Co.
Selection panel: Alan Gingell (chairman), Stephen Farthing RA, Eveline Hastings, Martin Holman, Derek Morris PRBS, Hon. Paul Zuckerman.