The Artist at Work

This is a picture story showing the entire process of producing the sculpture shown on the right, which is now located at West Cottage South Stainley.

The various stages of construction are shown from the initial drawing and notes through to delivering and installing the piece on site.

West Cottage was once the Hunting Lodge of The Archbishop of York and lies on the main route between Fountains and Reveaux Abbey. The ruins of a medieval village are close by which was one of the earliest settlement in the Harrogate District.

The work was commissioned by a local company, (West Cottage is the home of one of the directors).
The first stage of the construction process involves building a skeleton for the piece. As the eventual site for the work is "exposed to the elements", the steel reinforcements are most important.

The statue is then built onto this frame, initial layers of fibre glass and a combination of concrete and plaster are used to build up the "back bone" of the work.
From the initial base, the lower face is built up again using a combination of clay, plaster and concrete.

Additional supports for the upper head are incorporated at this stage. As the work is quite tall, the stress on the "necks" of both figures is considerable and as the eventual fabric of the work is inflexible the structure has to be extremely rigid to avoid cracking.
The lower head is now almost completed and work on the second, female head, started.

To reinforce the concept of the apparition the two heads are joined by a very slender former which required an arrangement of cantilevered steel supports to enable the structure to withstand the wind and weather at the site, "all year round".
The last stages of construction and the final layers of facing and the supports to anchor the work to the plinth are added.

At the site Daz has built a simple plinth from concrete slabs and stone which he hopes will, over time blend into the landscape.

The stone was provided by the local farmer (possibly entirely without his knowledge).
The finished piece installed at West Cottage, South Stainley.

The site adjoins a much used foot path from the Ripley Estate and produces a variety of responses from passing walkers / horse riders and of course the local farmer.

The comments of the former are varied and interesting, the comments of the farmer are fortunately not recorded.