The Dream: St. Helens, Lancashire.

[poliphilo]

The Dream is a 66 ft sculpture by Catalan artist Jaume Plesna, which stands on the site of the former colliery- now a forest- at Sutton Manor, near St Helens. It was commissioned by former miners- as a monument to their now vanished industry- and was completed in April 2009.  

It has been compared to Anthony Gormley's iconic Angel of the North- but it's a very different experience. Where the Angel dominates its landscape, the Dream stands among trees- which by the time they are fully grown will all but hide it. You cannot drive up to it, but have to park at a distance and approach its clearing by foot-paths that curve around the hill. Unlike the Angel, which is assertive, masculine- built of girders- the Dream- made of a highly refelective mix of concrete and Spanish alabaster, seems hardly there- as if it had coalesced out of the clouds.

Comments

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I love this piece! Wow! I'm really inspired by public art that uses nature and time as metaphors to develop, where we may not even live long enough to see the final result. That we will start to see the trees grow up around her is just beautiful.

This reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy's work, Garden of Stones (http://www.mjhnyc.org/visit_gardenofstones.htm) at the Jewish Heritage Museum in Lower Manhattan. He envisioned what it might look like to persevere restraint in nature. He hollowed out giant boulders and planted saplings in them. Over time if they grow large enough, their roots will break the stones and grow around them.

Here's a great NY Times piece (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/magazine/stone-diarist.html) about it, and here are two really good photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/anatre/1866719379/in/photostream/) of it.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I'm perpetually fascinated by Andy Goldsworthy's work. If you haven't yet seen the documentary film Rivers and Tides you're in for a treat. Some fascinating stuff he does with entirely ephemeral effects, like filling a round hollow in a river boulder with yellow dandelion heads. Gorgeous.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love that documentary, it's beautiful. The dandelion piece was actually my favourite!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a wonderful idea of Goldsworthy's.

We seem to be living in an age of great public art.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

If most public art could be as great as the pieces you seem to have in the UK and NY, we would be fortunate indeed. Unfortunately in Seattle, we're minimally fortunate (although our new sculpture park is pretty amazing). One day!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Over here there's the idea that spectacular public art can rejuvenate run-down communities. It's maybe too early to say whether works or not.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I really like that idea a lot - say, do you know of any articles that might talk about that idea? I suppose I could research but I wondered if you knew of anything off the top of your head. I'd like to write a bit about it, because the contrast in cultures is so interesting.

There's always such a ridiculous debate about tax dollars and where they go in the States. People yell a lot about public art and how much they hate it. It's kind of tragic.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Channel 4 did a series of programmes about public art in Britain. The website is here- http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/B/bigart/

There's a lot of opposition over here too, but it tends to go away once the art is in place. People love Gormley's Angel of the North.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

Oooh thanks for the link! :D

I really want to come see that angel some day!