home page

Materials: English oak, limstone, stainless steel.

Approx size: 10x10 Metres

Location: didcot to upton cycle trail, oxfordshire.

Date: 2004

The design takes advantage of the panoramic views available from the raised embankment whilst also offering shelter from the wind. The sculpture is sited midway along the embankment to provide a resting point for walkers and cyclists.
The design is in two parts linking either side of the trail.

I am interested in using materials that reflect and are relevant to the area. Native English Oak has been chosen for its strength and durability as well as its inherent beauty. The rock Chalk has been reclaimed from works during path improvements to the cycle track and has been secured into the sculpture by gabion like cages.
By encasing this ancient material “chalk” in these cages the material can be used in a modern and durable way as well as bringing attention to the very stuff the embankment is constructed from.

The physical form of the sculpture has been influenced by nature as well as science and technology Just as in Brunnels time science and technology was at the forefront, and Didcot was chosen for its geographic location as a major junction in his new railway the great western Railway. Because of this didcot became a major player in the new high tech railway. Dicot remains as a centre for technology such as the work being undertaken at Harwell, culham and Rutherford centres
I have become interested in the great machines and technology of the power industries such as the design for the “totamak” fusion research and find relationships of form with the foraminifera (fossils found in the chalk) the design has been arranged to create a dynamic form which crosses the path and creates pathways in space along the lines of its structure.