The River Runs Through it

This project started at the Ouseburn, an area that holds great interest to me, for many different reasons. As an up and coming, carefully regenerated, area of Newcastle, the Ouseburn has attracted Artists to it, originally because art space was cheap to rent.

I have had many nights out in the music venues. I attended the kick boxing school years ago. I also take part in a monthly improvised comedy show that is currently running at the Cumberland Arms pub, which is one of the oldest pubs in the area.

The original landlord of the Cumberland Arms was a man named John ‘Jocker’ Wood. My connection to Wood is not only by name, but ‘Jocker’ is my daughter’s grandfather, four times removed.

The year 1, Fine Art Students, were fortunate enough to be taken on a tour of the Ouseburn. The tour was especially focused on the regeneration of the area over the years. Especially as this area of Byker once fell into the category of a Slum. It was decided that the Byker slum housing would be knocked down and the people of this area would be relocated to the newly built ‘Biker Wall’ and other tower blocks, and housing around Newcastle.

At the time there were reports that splitting up communities was detrimental to those people in them. Some councillors saw this as ‘not a bad thing’, considering the seemingly gregarious and uncouth attitude of the people of Byker. They were seen to have to much of a fun open social life. Which was not appreciated by those that felt they were above, ‘socially’ the residents of Byker . Which author Anna Minton wrote, on ‘The Guardian’ online in 2015

 

The first short research task took me to Whitley Bay beach. It was a rainy day, the sky and sea was grey. There was lots of fenced off areas that are being rejuvenated along the sea front. Big metal railing, stopping people from getting in. Many building signs, and building materials lying around the place. Not the beach imagery I would normally focus on. Usually I would like take pictures of beautiful sunshine cascading onto the shore line. So focusing on things that I would normally not include in art work was interesting. Yet this imagery tells a story. I took pictures of rusting metal and green algae which have their own eroding beauty.

I took thick pieces seaweed, sand and stones from the area ,back to the studio and built a figure out of the taken materials and plastic beach toys and rubbish. I had seen a collage from Desmond Morris , ‘War Woman’, 1949, in the National gallery of Scotland. It really stood out for me. It was about, how he thought woman were changed by taking up male jobs during the war. I love the piece. It looked so contemporary, timeless.

So my sea creature was loosely based on this. It looked like a ‘sea warrior’ that had been created by tangled seaweed, metal, stone, plastic toys and bottles. Remnant of tangled bundles of rubbish that get washed up on the shore. I liked the idea of natural and synthetic coming together. A modern phenomenon where plastic fills the seas. This piece felt very thrown together. Which was so different from the last project. Each and every little piece was carefully placed and I had a strong emotional connection to it.

This was thrown together quickly because of a deadline of 4 days. It was interesting to create something. Yet there was not so much emotional involvement with this people piece.

I went back to the same beach at Whitley Bay that I had taken the photos from and collected seaweed. It was a much brighter and sunnier day than the day before, I noticed paw prints all over the sand. The morning light created wonderful shadows, light and contrast. It amazed me as I took the pictures the sand paw prints, how different each and every one was. From this I made a whole wall of prints. It looked like a chart of chemical elements in block form. Or even some kind of ancient language or alphabet. There were around 72, A4 images, stuck together. I liked how there were so many individual images of the same subject.

 

From here I started to think about the councillor T Dan Smith from the 1960’s. He had a vision for Newcastle that he saw as ‘The Brasilia of the North’. Knock down historic Newcastkle and replace with modern concrete buildings. He was responsible for such places like the Byker slums to be knocked down and high rises to be built. He did these deals with a corrupt basis and was sent to prison for 6 years. He received around 160 thousand pounds from Architect John Poulson in back handers. Which was a considerable amount of money in those days.

T Dan Smith

I was thinking about how all those people who lived in Newcastle slums were relocated, and how in life there are times when we simply have no control of what happens to us. For me there have been times where it feels like a huge wave has lifted me and my whole circumstance has completely changed.  The change can sometimes feel negative or positive. I wonder if we ever actually have choices or does life just simply happen regardless?

With no strong vision of what I wanted to make yet. I experimented with seaweed to see if it would set. But I wasn’t keen on using it as it was too slippery and it dried to a brittle substance.

 

I then made a painting with my hands, trying to get a feeling of water and movement. Fun to do. From there I made a black and white painting that I felt resembled the imagery of the black and white photos taken in the past. Quiet often people just standing in lines or posed portraits. Stiff and square.  In my head there is this whole imagined black and white world pasted together form pictures I’ve seen over the years.

I then painted a picture of what I felt the slums and the characters that lived in them would really feel like, colours and movement, bright and energetic.

From here I envisaged a 1970’s room, where Councillor T Dan Smith was celebrating a  deal with Architect John Poulson, drinking champagne, smoking cigars. I thought about making an installation of the 1970’s room.  As the project is about the Tyne, I imagined that the champagne could be replaced by the River Tyne water. Symbolising that in the drinking of such water, it would be detrimental to the person. That if deals are made on a dishonest basis the you would always  be looking over your shoulder, worried about being caught. Is that kind of stress worth any amount of money?In the end it was detrimental to them both as they both ended up in prison. Only because Poulson filed bankruptcy, and an investigation into it found discrepancies.

Poulson designed the blocks of flats at Cruddas park. I like the idea of building a block of flats from champagne glasses. Inside those glasses, placing figures, representing the people who lived in the slums, in the glasses. The families split up sealed in units. The glass filled with water from the ‘River Tyne’. Also an element of being in a fish bowl. Everyone peering in your life. I suppose as I looked at Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s black and white photos of the people from 1960’s Byker. It is like a window into their world.

As I experimented with the glasses, the imagery seemed to work. Things like the glasses fitting together and finding a solution to building a high structure without it falling over. Also being able to transport it to our Degree show, at Blanford square.

After wanting to make or buy figures to put in the glasses, I put black and white pictures of the people of the Byker Slums behind the glass, which I would take from original pictures of the time. Some are from Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen photos and some other pictures from the time.

I had an adventure, just trying to get the water. Getting water from the Tyne in the City centre was impossible. So I had to nearer the Mouth of the Tyne.

I have made the piece filling the glasses with water and sealing the glasses together to make the tower block. It has been made in three pieces that can be moved with ease. Aspects of the sculpture will need to be finished off on site. The show will be set up in two days. I hope now, to also add some ‘brick’ rubble to place at the bottom of the piece to give a feeling of the Towers having risen from the demolished ground, almost like an alien life force. This was something that came to mind when I saw an old photo of the then ‘new’ blocks.

I am fairly happy with the outcome of this sculpture. In the past I would have had to make something perfectly, but now I feel I can simply get on, and make art. Which makes it  a lot more relaxing not worrying about it all being right. Maybe because I feel like I am more focused on what it has to say.  I like the asthectioc of the glasses and how the pictures magnify through the water in the glass.

Conclusion

With this sculpture, I would have preferred to have used my own pictures rather than someone else’s, but obviously I don’t have my own pictures from the 1960’s slums. I would have liked to use glass instead of plastic glasses, but expense would have been great. The piece would have been very heavy too. The plastic glasses have held together well so far. As always it would be wonderful to make this as a giant piece in a Baltic Gallery size room.  Four towers with a floor full of rubble. Mostly my pieces feel like they are the start of a bigger idea rather than an end point. I have enjoyed the project and I have thought about this subject a lot over the years, but feel, I prefer to make something even more personal.. So even if I have a project in future about a place or area. I will aim to make it something I feel a greater connect to.