With an Object in Mind - University of Leicester · helaine blumenfeld john sydney carter deidre...

HELAINE BLUMENFELD

JOHN SYDNEY CARTER

DEIDRE HUBBARD

ROLAND PICHÉ

GUY PORTELLI

CHRISTY SYMINGTON

MARCUS VERGETTE

With an Object in Mind

SCULPTURE IN THE GARDEN 2006

1 July – 22 September 2006Harold Martin Botanic Garden

University of Leicester

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W E L C O M E

Messenger of the Spirit – Glass

Helaine Blumenfeld

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W E L C O M E

Welcome

I am delighted to welcome you to this exhibition. This is thefifth year when the University has had the pleasure of hostinga major sculpture show in the Botanic Garden. Each year has aunique theme, and this year we have invited seven majorsculptors to show several pieces each. These artists have beeninvolved in the planning of the show from the beginning andeach has taken on the task of arranging their work within adesignated area of the Garden to show how the sculpturescomplement each other, and the sculptors each others’ work,as well as their particular environments. The whole is a uniqueexperience.

As well as a display of very different techniques, and individualviews of the world, the exhibition illustrates how the talents ofthe artists can enhance the diligence, creativity and care ofthose involved in developing the Garden. The University isdelighted to welcome visitors to the Garden throughout thesummer and sees this show as a contribution which we canmake to the cultural life of the region.

I would like to thank the sculptors, the organisers and themany members of the University who have given so generouslyof their time to make this exhibition another great success.I do hope you enjoy it.

Professor Robert BurgessVice-Chancellor, University of Leicester

CONTENTS

Welcome...................................3

With an Object in Mind ............4

Helaine Blumenfeld ...................6

John Sydney Carter..................10

Deidre Hubbard ......................14

Roland Piché ...........................18

Guy Portelli .............................22

Christy Symington ...................26

Marcus Vergette......................30

Comment................................34

Sculpture Locations .................36

The University of Leicester .......38

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

With an Object in Mind

Helaine Blumenfeld VP FRBS and Professor Bill Forster OBE

This is the fifth annual sculpture exhibition tobe featured in the University of LeicesterHarold Martin Botanic Garden and maintainsthe high quality established in previous years.For this exhibition, seven sculptors have beeninvited to show their work, each of themexploring sense and sensibilities as well asrelationships and aspects of humanity, in wayswhich widen perception and deepenunderstanding. Each work of art is an act ofsharing.

The seven sculptors participating all have incommon a belief in the value of craft, visionand tradition. Each has developed an intenselypersonal and recognisable style. They share abelief in the power of art to spiritualise. Aboveall they believe that quality is always at thecentre of the ‘cutting edge’ whether the workis figurative, abstract or conceptual, usingconventional materials or those never usedbefore. All of the artists in this exhibition areinnovators. They belong to the true avantgarde, to those artists who have workedthrough a tradition and pushed theboundaries forward.

All the artists share an interest in the naturalworld.

Helaine Blumenfeld aims to transcendobjective reality and through her sculpturesuggest what lies beyond. Helaine’s work isdisplayed in this country, the USA and manyEuropean countries and she already has amajor piece, Souls, established on the mainUniversity of Leicester campus.

John Sidney Carter’s sculptures are drawnfrom sailing experiences and are translatedinto imagery of water, swimmers, waves and

bird forms. Whilst using studios locally, he hasexhibited far and wide, his sculpture, Atomicawas installed last year in the Henry WellcomeBuilding at the University of Leicester.

Deirdre Hubbard’s awareness of the rhythmsof the human body is reflected in manysculptures, ‘appearing in life forms, animals,birds and even floral’. Deirdre’s work isalready well known from previous exhibitionsand figures in many private, public andcorporate collections.

Roland Piché’s work suggests ‘the experienceof transformation, of flight and change,formed in the vessel of a bird towards journeyand metaphor’. Roland’s sculpture is knownto many and may be seen both in London andin major provincial cities as well asinternationally. He exhibits regularly at theRoyal Academy.

Christy Symington ‘Through construction anddestruction, visual scars and impressions areleft as memory of that which is now absent’.Christy’s reputation as an artist shows a clearprogression from Paris, through the USA tothe UK.

Guy Portelli’s sculptures ‘inhabit a world offantasy, ritual and symbolism. They provoke aresponse and seduce the senses’. Guy hascreated many significant public designfeatures, including gates and fountains and hehas distinguished himself with freestandingsculptures to be seen in this country andthroughout the world.

Marcus Vergette’s sculptures in this show areconcerned with bells. ‘There is somethinguniversal, profound and spiritual we recognise

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

in bells. They express and contain the historyof human efforts to comprehend andrecognise the physical and social world’.Marcus works from the West Country, andexhibits widely. His sculptures can be seen inTate Britain, Tate Modern and the BritishMuseum.

Between them, the artists will be showing 40works. Each artist chose the area within whichto display their work, and has curated thatspace. The remarkable quality of the Gardensgives dimension to their exhibits.

All the sculptors are well known bothnationally and internationally. Only RolandPiché and Guy Portelli have not shown in theHarold Martin Botanic Gardens before. We aredelighted they have agreed to exhibit this year.

This exhibition presents a remarkableopportunity to see several works from each ofthese important sculptors and to consider theinterrelationships of the different artists’ work.

The exhibition opens on July 1st and runs untilSeptember 23rd 2006. It is open daily from10am to 5pm and entry is free.

The University Botanic Garden is situatedabout 3 miles south-east of Leicester citycentre, opposite Leicester Racecourse. Thevisitor entrance is on Glebe Road.

“We are, each of us angels withonly one wing; we can only flyby embracing each other.”

Red Hot Pokers – Bronze and Mosaic

Guy Portelli

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H E L A I N E B L U M E N F E L D

Helaine Blumenfeld VP FRBS

The opportunity to show a group of sculptures in such abeautiful environment has allowed me to explore two themeswhich have always been central to my sculpture:Transformation and Spirituality.

Transformation extends the boundaries of sculpture,transcends the ‘objective reality’ of its physical presence. It isan effort through sculpture to capture the moment ofenlightenment when something which has been impossible tounderstand becomes clear. Transformation is a two wayprocess: suggested by the sculptural object and taken up bythe viewer. Perception changes the sculpture and the viewer, inturn, is transformed by this perception, and is led to explorevarying levels of meaning.

Light plays an important role in creating a sense oftransformation, both in the way it enters and passes throughthe forms and in the way it casts shadows. For the first time Ihave been working with transparency and the spiritualqualities this imparts to the forms is magical.

Angels, from the time of the Old Testament have appeared toman as creatures of unparalleled beauty. They were seen to bethe closest representation of pure spirit that the human beingis capable of seeing. They are our spiritual messengers. Thesculptures seen here remind us that as long as we canexperience ‘angels’ we shall continue to be connected to thelife of the spirit that informs and sustains us.

Helaine Blumenfeld in her studio

Helaine Blumenfeld VP FRBS

Email: [email protected]


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Messenger of the Spirit

Glass

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Angels: Harmony

Marble


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From left to right:

Angels: Harmony – Marble

Messenger of the Spirit – Glass

Memories of Love – Marble

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J O H N S Y D N E Y C A R T E R

John Sydney Carter FCSD FFS ARBS

The purpose of sculpture is to communicate through themedia of form, therefore words are inappropriate. But it maybe helpful to state some of the motivation during the creativeprocess.

I like to make sculpture sometimes starting with metal rods,found objects or making random elements and discovering anew starting point.

The imagery is centred round my love of the sea, sailing, birds,fish and I am inspired by the east coast where I sail my yawl.

The sensation of inadequacy, when technology and theintelligence of mankind comes into conflict with natural forcesis reflected in my wave forms. The power of the sea is wellunderstood by those who sail.

John Sydney Carter working on

Atomica for the Henry Wellcome

Building (Photo: Geoff Woods)

John Sydney Carter FCSD FFS ARBS

42A Farmyard House

Main Street

Foxton

Leicestershire

LE16 7RB

UK

Tel: 01858 545642

Fax: 01858 545165

Mobile: 07711 740709



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Nebula

Stainless Steel

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From left to right:

Fish Totem, Kelp Form, Fisherman

Metal


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From left to right:

Fish Form, Wave Form, Jean With Flowers

Metal

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D E I D R E H U B B A R D

Deidre Hubbard FRBS

Since my art student days I have been enthralled by the nude:the tension between curvaceous flesh and underlyinggeometry has influenced my sculptures from the outset, andfound its way into everything I make, from the near-representational to the wholly abstract.

I am constantly aware of the rhythms of the human body, and find them reappearing in other life forms: animal, bird,even floral.

In this group of sculptures, bird and other animal hybrids areshown, but have in common, I think, a certain ‘bodily’ feel,inviting a stroke or a pat. Dominated by the underlying inter-play of curve and counter-curve, they conform to abstractdiscipline, but should feel available for a comfortableenjoyment.

The most abstract of the group, Split Sphere (bronze on oak)shows a new interest of mine, namely, the slicing into acompact rounded form, to expose and exploit the basictension between fleshiness and severe geometry, mentionedabove.

Deidre Hubbard in her studio

Deidre Hubbard FRBS

101 Woodsford Square

London W14 8DT

UK

Tel/Fax: 020 7603 6118


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Hybrid Bird

Bronze

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Split Sphere

Bronze/Oak


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From left to right:

Wingless Pair – Bronze

Touching Pair – Marble

Floating Form – Resin

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R O L A N D P I C H É

Roland Piché ARCA FRBS

Sculpture is extremely difficult and like love, is the mirror ofthe Gods held in human hands and subject to failure.

My sculptures on exhibition here were made for architecturaland interior spaces and all intended to be gilded in gold leaf.So the decision to show them in this garden venue isparticularly challenging and valid.

They come from a time when my ideas sought to reflect theexperience of transformation, of flight and change formed inthe vessel of a bird towards journey and metaphor.

The concepts of the archetypal and changed state are exploredthrough the body as vessel, and the spirit and soul in flightwhich has been the quest of many in search of personal andcollective meaning.

The importance of light and the way it illuminates form in allits changing aspects, signifies both the eternal and thetransitory and leads to the seeming contradictory position ofour human condition.

For to gain the oneness with the sublime we only have to stareinto the source of sunlight, into the eyes of God, to beconsumed into an experience of eternal oneness, in theknowledge that if we turn our back to the light we cast ourshadow before us; we receive the illuminated gifts of theworld and everything in it, every colour and detail, everypossible beauty and cruelty, every thought and consequence.

My sculpture provides traces of such lofty thoughts in thecomplexity of their simplicity.

Roland Piché in his studio(Photo: Bob Cross)

Roland Piché ARCA FRBSTollesbury StudiosNorth RoadTollesburyEssexCM9 8RQUKTel/Fax: 01621 869 556


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From left to right:

Pouring Vessel – Resin

Dove of Transformation – Plaster

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Seated Figure

Solid Resin


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From left to right:

Vessel – Plaster

Pouring Vessel – Resin

Dove of Transformation – Plaster

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G U Y P O R T E L L I

Guy Portelli RBA FRBS

I want my sculptures to inhabit a world of fantasy, ritual, andsymbolism. To provoke a response and seduce the senses, withsensual, tactile surfaces and provocative images.

My theme is ‘Temptation and Reward’, those objects of desire,unattainable dreams and how they are packaged and how thatpackaging in itself becomes an art form.

The inspiration for my sculpture comes from many sources andthe themes are symbolic rather than figurative: botany, music,religion, Latin culture and packaging. My birds in flightsymbolise aspirations and my fish unattainable dreams. Myflowers sculptures are sexual and the hand print a signature.The hand as a point of creative departure permeates thiscollection of work and is used within a broad spectrum ofsymbolic interpretations.

Each piece has more than one source of inspiration. The fusionof multiple themes enables the sculpture to go beyond mypreconceptions and limited imagination, like a puzzle with halfthe pieces missing, the image appears as I collect the pieces.

The interpretation of these motifs has a more limited palette.The line drawn in space – modular and interlocking pieces,positive and negative images, fluid shapes with rarely astraight line.

My choice of materials, glass, nickel plated bronze, stainlesssteel are all contemporary surfaces, vibrant, sexy and seductive.

Guy Portelli

Guy Portelli RBA FRBS125 St Marys RoadTonbridgeKentTN9 2NLUKTel: 01732 364708Fax: 01732 773749Email: [email protected]


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Go For It

Bronze and Mosaic

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Flight III

Bronze


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From left to right:

Red Hot Pokers I, Sun, Red Hot Pokers II

Bronze and Mosaic

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C H R I S T Y S Y M I N G T O N

Christy Symington MA ARBS

Humans are syncretised with nature and beliefs the world overin the proximity of consciousness and the invisible power ofthe infinite. The work deals with the primal connectionbetween people and their environment. Through constructionand destruction, visual scars and impressions are left asmemories of that which is now absent. The expected ortraditional use of a material is expanded to a refreshingalternative by defamiliarising materials through process.

Questioning that which is outside our norm provokes afruitfulness of discovery.

An individual is ready to act upon personal growth needs ifand only the Essential Needs are met – shelter, safety, sleep,hunger, thirst, breath, bodily comforts, friendship, belonging,giving/receiving love. If these fundamental survival needs arenot satisfied, then higher needs will not be sought after oreven recognised. This is the widely accepted theory of humanmotivation by Abraham Maslow (1954). Meeting theseessential needs forms the platform towards self-actualisation inachieving greater human potential. Each person satisfies theiressential needs through improvising in their own way.

Continually improvising with materials and process provides anunexpected joy of discovery in finding a solution. Knowledgeof process and material behaviour, combined with curiosity toimprovise and find new ground, allows freshness and adhockery in the work. Questioning restraints of formality andrules, etiquette and format, gives a quality of fearlessplayfulness and offhandish, temporary arrangement. Adaptingto and making use of the current situation with expectancy forchange keeps open the potential for growth.

Christy Symington in her studio

Christy Symington MA ARBS

23 Brockley Grove

London SE4 1QX

UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 8699 6700

Mobile: +44 (0)7957 655 385


www.christysymington.com


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From left to right:

Essential Needs: Love (Together Apart) – Crystacal, canvas, sash rope

Essential Needs: Air (for Lela) – Crystacal, gold and copper leaf

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Essential Needs: Water

Crystacal, plastic, gauze


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Essential Needs: Food

Crystacal, sand, astroturf

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M A R C U S V E R G E T T E

Marcus Vergette ARBS

I first became interested in bells at the end of the foot andmouth epidemic in my parish in 2001. When the movementrestrictions were lifted and we could leave our farms for thefirst time in six months my neighbor, the captain of the tower,went up to the church and rang the church bells. I hadn’tnoticed that this sound had gone missing. I drove up the hillto the church where he showed me the bells in the bell tower.I was amazed to discover these enormous bronze sculpturessecreted away in my small rural parish.

I began to research the history and significance of bells. Theyseem to express and contain in some way the history ofhuman efforts to comprehend and organise the physical,spiritual, and social worlds. They are markers of time,celebration, loss, guardians of common experience.

Everyone within the sound of a bell is considered to be underits protection and influence. French historian Alain Corbainsuggests bells can be considered a mouthpiece of a culture.Many different cultures make different types of bells, and haveused bells to express and symbolise themselves. There issomething universal, profound, and spiritual we recognise in abell, with resonance symbolically as well as acoustically.

Marcus Vergette in his studio

Marcus Vergette ARBSCombe Farm HighamptonBeaworthyDevonEX21 5LJUKTel: 01837 [email protected]


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Listening Bell

Forged Aluminium

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Silent Bell

Granite


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From left to right:

Pattern Maker – Cast Iron

Blue Bell – Resin

Tuned Bell – Cast Stone

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C O M M E N T

Garden, Sculpture, Light, Space

Alan Caine

Sculpture in the garden creates insights andsurprises about the works of art, the plantsand spaces. The varying light – and with itchanges in colour – alter the way thingsappear and the moods provoked. Stillness ora breeze changes the colour and shape oftrees and the objects near to them. Returningto this year's exhibition, I wondered what Iwould find.

The first work I came upon was a stone bellby Marcus Vergette. It was clean and solidwith the simple elegance of the bell shapeemphasised by carved bands. It was not abell: the centre was not hollow. As I movedthrough the gardens other versions of thebell emerged: one as a fountain with waterpouring from the top; another had adecorated surface, a hollow inside and arusty patina which suggested antiquity. Thecaved-in shape of a blue bell hoveringbetween destruction and transfiguration intoa flower continued the exploration of afamiliar and satisfying shape. Sound was onlya memory.

Near the pond John Sydney Carter presentedus with the tender and gently monumentalimage of a young man standing, life-size, witha fish. The body surface carries marks of coral,rock, scratches and welts, nobly borne –materials of his life. Nearby we are met byaggressive metal shapes like a twisted anchor.They rest on a secure almost egg-like rock. Thecontrasts of a secure stone against tensemetal create a response: like a haiku poem.Other images were made out of cut sheets ofevenly rusted metal – and included a versionof almost child-like cut out patterns of flowersand plants – a lighter, more decorative work.Surfaces and materials matter.

I came to a lawn where white marblepresences stood against the green. Thisstunning luminous sculpture held all thecolours around the garden. And, from anotherside, it was almost transparent – a ghostagainst the light-coloured bush. It is one ofHelaine Blumenfeld’s works, a goddess-likeimage which seems to direct us to a largerwhite marble work where two one-wingedfigures merge into a single angelic presence.The quieter rhythms of one side contrast withthe other where the wing-spread is wilder andthe figure more extrovert. To explore the spacebetween the two figures gives added insight.The impact of the whole lawn is tough andexciting.

Sharing the lawn are a number of works castin bronze – with a brownish-gold patina – byDeidre Hubbard. For a moment, some ofthem seem give a hint of a beautifullydesigned propeller – or some othermanifestation of precision engineering. At thesame time, almost contrary sensations of thehuman body – flesh and bone – makethemselves felt. On a slender bronze column afluid and elegant presence rests and unfolds. Ithas hints of animal/human/music/rhythm/eros.Some works move towards the satisfyingorder of geometry, but in others the imprintof struggle, even pain, presses forward inspite of the sculpture's insistence that it willhold its form.

On another lawn Roland Pichet’s bright goldobjects against the green give us a jolt ofsurprise. We seem to be in the presence ofsome sort of ceremonial material; perhapssome kind of ‘temple’. In the centre of thelawn a large bowl pours solid liquid intoanother half sphere. We find figures, almost

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Fisherman – Metal

John Sydney Carter

C O M M E N T

classic presences, which are partlymonumental jugs with handles (figuresbecoming jugs or jugs becoming figures). Ahuge magisterial bird shape with a presence(possibly human) at its feet looms like someobject of worship. Signals about the ordinaryand the sublime are present.

To decorate and to charm amidst theengaging pattern of in Italian garden is notan easy task, but Guy Portelli has succeeded.Here we find strange mosaic and bronzeplant presences which insist on playing someof nature’s notes. There is also a pattern offive hands, drawn with vitality in an outlineof stainless steel and forming a circularemblem – almost a mandala. Within theshape are coloured mosaics: richness andmystery. And nearby, two delightful mosaicand bronze dragonflies lure us by theirfascinating colour, but their very specific‘insectness’ holds back any tendency to findthem pretty. Sinuous line, structured colourand the idea of artist as magician carry usthrough this garden.

I turned a corner and found some shapeswhich I couldn't recognise. They seemed toconverse with the trees and the lawn and tochange that area of garden. ChristySymington has produced objects whichappear, for a moment, ‘accidental’. Placingaffects their significance. Hanging from treebranches are long red pod-like 'fruits'. Thecurious presence of something which is notquite half a standing torso – nor is it aweathered cement column – invitesinspection. Two gray and blue ‘branches’ leanagainst a tree trunk, changing our reading ofspace and of tree and of these intruders intonature which do not have a life of their own.

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S C U L P T U R E LO C AT I O N S

Harold Martin Botanic Garden: Sculpture Locations

1 Silent Bell – GraniteMarcus Vergette

2 Venus – TravertineHelaine Blumenfeld

3 Vessel of Transformation – ResinRoland Piché

4 Essential Needs: Shelter – Wood, gauzeChristy Symington

5 Foil – Nickel Plated BronzeGuy Portelli

6 In Echelon – ResinDeidre Hubbard

7 Nebula – Stainless Steel John Sydney Carter

Christy Symington

8 Essential Needs: Air (for Lela) – Crystacal, goldand copper leaf

9 Essential Needs: Love (Together Apart) –Crystacal, canvas, sash rope

10 Essential Needs: Friendship – Crystacal,rubber, astroturf, glasswax

11 Essential Needs: Water – Crystacal, plastic,gauze

12 Essential Needs: Food – Crystacal, sand,astroturf

All sculptures available in bronze if desired

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For further information about purchasing the sculptures please contact

Mrs Jo Wood, Vice-Chancellor’s PA, University of Leicester, Fielding Johnson Building, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH

Tel: 0116 252 2322 Email: [email protected]

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S C U L P T U R E LO C AT I O N S

Roland Piché

13 Weeping Vessel – Solid Resin

14 Dove of Transformation – Plaster

15 Seated Figure – Solid Resin

16 Eternal Vessel – Resin

17 Pouring Vessel – Plaster

18 Double Bird – Solid Resin

19 Weeping Vessel – Solid Resin

20 Vessel – Plaster

Marcus Vergette

21 Pattern Maker – Cast Iron

22 Tuned Bell – Cast Stone

23 Blue Bell – Resin

24 Listening Bell – Forged Aluminium

Helaine Blumenfeld

25 Bench I – Marble

26 Bench II – Marble

27 On the Edge – Marble

28 Messenger of the Spirit – Glass

29 Il Vento – Bronze

30 Angels: Harmony – Marble

31 Memories of Love – Marble

Deidre Hubbard

32 Touching Pair – Marble

33 Wingless Pair – Bronze

34 Floating Form – Resin

35 Hybrid Bird – Bronze

36 Hybrid – Bronze

37 Split Sphere – Bronze/Oak

Guy Portelli

38 Flight III – Bronze

39 Red Hot Pokers III – Bronze and Mosaic

40 Sun – Bronze and Mosaic

41 Why – Bronze and Mosaic

42 Cross – Bronze and Mosaic

43 Go For It – Bronze and Mosaic

44 Red Hot Pokers I – Bronze and Mosaic

John Sydney Carter

45 Fish Form – Metal

46 Wave Form – Metal

47 Jean With Flowers – Metal

48 Fisherman – Metal

49 Kelp Form – Metal

50 Fish Totem – Metal

51 Wave – Metal

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T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F L E I C E S T E R

The University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is a leading UK university with aninternational reputation for its teaching and research.

Leicester is world-renowned for the discovery of therevolutionary technique of DNA genetic fingerprinting andhouses the biggest university-based space research group inEurope. Leicester has a number of specialist centres for thestudy of social issues and its Medical School is one of thelargest in England.

The University is committed to offering an extensiveprogramme of undergraduate and postgraduate degreecourses which are firmly rooted in a strong research culture. InJanuary 2005 the University was awarded two Centres forExcellence in Teaching and Learning in recognition of its highquality teaching. The University continues to invest in newmethods of teaching and learning using the latestcommunications technology for the benefit of its students.

During the past decade the University has experienced a periodof significant growth, particularly in respect of postgraduatestudents. There are now over 19,000 students registered onaccredited programmes with almost 50% of these registeredfor postgraduate qualifications. The University is committed towidening participation and offers a diverse range offoundation degrees and continuing education and professionaldevelopment programmes. Students from 150 countries arecurrently studying at the University.

The University works closely with business and industry and,particularly in the fields of Medicine, Biological Sciences,Physical Sciences and Engineering, has established links withcompany research and development programmes. It has aninternational reputation for research across a wide range ofactivities. Academic staff of the University act as advisers tothe British and international governments and otherorganisations.

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F L E I C E S T E R

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Souls, a two-part bronze sculpture by Helaine Blumenfeld, on the lawn of the

University of Leicester’s Fielding Johnson building

University of Leicester · Leicester LE1 7RH · UK

“We are, each of us angels withonly one wing; we can only flyby embracing each other.”

With an Object in Mind - University of Leicester · helaine blumenfeld john sydney carter deidre...

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