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Fallen Leaves, Belle Vue Park |
artist(s):
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David Mackie |
| location |
Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan [south Wales] |
| completed |
June 2002 |
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The Belle Vue project originated in 1995 when the Penarth Society Committee approached Cywaith Cymru. Artworks Wales for guidance on promoting public art in Penarth. The Committee decided to develop a scheme for Belle Vue Gardens and made a funding application to the Arts Council of Wales Lottery Unit. Among the ambitions of the scheme was to enhance the approaches to the park in an imaginative and inspirational way, incorporating seating which would encourage greater use of the park.
Public consultation was a key element throughout the project and at the onset the Penarth Society produced a leaflet which outlined the area for development and asking for support from the community. A residency element with children from nearby Albert Road Primary School was incorporated as an important element within the project and it was granted 90% funding in May 1999. |
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Cardiff artist David Mackie was selected from a wide-range of submissions with his proposals for sculputural seating entitled 'Fallen Leaves'. Giant leaves and seed heads of different species were to be placed as if scattered along a pathway, looking as if they had fallen from trees even larger than those that surrounded and defined the park.
Children from the school participated in a number of design workshops where they were given a brief to devise a 'trail' to be carved into the surface of the leaves. This was to represent the trails left by small animals, insects and birds, and eleven imaginative designs were chosen to be included in the final work.
Sculpted from terracotta blocks the project used over 20 tons of clay, each piece hand carved, numbered, dried and fired before final installation in Spring 2002. Some of the leaves and seed heads act as informal seating while others form plinths for more formal timber benches.
Brick clay was generously supplied by Ibstock Cattybrook and the landscaping work was done by Approach Ltd.
Cywaith Cymru . Artworks Wales managed the project for the Penarth Society. As the national organisation for public art in Wales it works closely with clients, advising on the selection of appropriate sites and managing the whole commission process from the selection of artists, preparing contracts and overseeing the programme of work. |
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Belle Vue Park is situated in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Take the approach road A4160 (Windsor Road) into Penarth, turning left up Albert Road at the roundabout in the town centre. The park is at the junction of Albert Road and Albert Crescent, the fourth exit to the right.
David Mackie has worked on numerous projects in schools. With Cywaith Cymru he worked on a large playground scheme at West Lea Infants School in Buckley, Flintshire in 1995 and more recently in 2001 completed a large scale seating project at Abertillery Comprehensive School, Blaenau Gwent. He was selected for the 'Sacred Sites' CADW residency in 1994 where he worked at Neath Abbey with the work subsequently exhibited in 1995 at Bishop's Palace, St David's.
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