A walk through Industrial Bristol

Last weekend, I took a sunny walk along the harbourside in Bristol with enamel jeweller Jessica Turrell.  The journey took us from Cumberland basin to Centrespace studios, where we both work.  We're working on concurrent projects for a 'Make & Think' research group project with the Univeristy of the West of England.

The highlight for me was exploring the working boat yard; Underfall Yard.  I was in industrial heaven.  Functional details often have a life, or character to them, which, for me, stems from their imagined use. 

 

 

And of course I found plenty of rusty metal joy at the dockyard.

Industry often works its way in to my own metalwork:

Leith Docks 2014 made for INDUSTRIAL SHIFT solo exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers

Tinsmith Template Series 2012

Find more industrial work here.

You can see Jessica's photos of our walk on her facebook page.

When metal is functional...

I always travel with a camera; these surfaces are too valuable to leave behind.  Here are some photographs I took on trips to Chicago and California, of metal fulfilling its functional purpose, whilst slowly ageing. 

Sometimes the 'patching up' of these metal surfaces to prevent corrosion create new, unexpected, and undeliberate beauty.

The attraction of metal

                                         

                                                      

THE ATTRACTION OF METAL  


With metal and metallic colours being incresingly popular in interiors, I've been thinking about why I have become so passionate about it as a material.  

Image from, Spruce Furn

When I was studying, I experimented with different materials; ceramics, cast resin and wood, but it was metal that seemed to suit the way I liked to make; I could put a piece I was working on down, for a day, a week, a month, then come back to it.  Apart from the colour of the surface changing as it oxidised with the air, the metal remained unchanged, ever ready for me to pick up and keep working on it. 

In contrast, it's how metal changes over long periods of time in outdoor contexts that fascinates me; a rusty corrugated iron shed, a verdigris covered bronze sculpture, an oxidised lead roof.... 

I took these photos in Berkeley, California, and in Denmark

Our mastery of the earth's natural resources teeters in delicate balance with nature who takes them back through their exposure to air and rainwater; a play between the preservation and decay of metal.

Blacksmith, Image from Jayperoni

Metal is commonly a functional material, used to create tools, electric circuit boards, strong architectural structures, amongst millions of other applications.  Some metals are hard like steel, and some are soft, like lead.   By varying the quantities of each metal in metal alloys, we create new metals with properties designed to fulfil particular functions, for example super stength, flexibility and reflectivity.  This is true in large scale industry, but also when making in metal by hand.

Image from freepatterns

What I love most about metal is the potential to use its properties; including colour, which can be manipulated with chemicals and heat, and texture, which can be created through engraving and acid-etching, to create images in its surface.

Metal wall pieces