Dream (sculpture)
Encyclopedia
Dream is a sculpture
and a piece of public art
by Jaume Plensa
in Sutton, St Helens
, Merseyside
. Costing approximately £1.8m the funds were secured through The Big Art Project
in coordination with the Arts Council England
, The Art Fund and Channel 4
.
's "The Big Art Project" along with several other sites. The project culminated in the unveiling of "Dream", a 20m sculpture located on the old Sutton Manor Colliery Site.
St Helens retains strong cultural ties to the Coal Industry and has several monuments including the wrought iron gates of Sutton Manor Colliery, as well as the 1995 town centre installation by Thompson Dagnall
known as "The Landings" (depicting individuals working a coal seam) and Arthur Fleischmann's Anderton Shearer
monument (a piece of machinery first used at the Ravenhead Mine).
The Council and local residents (including approximately 15 former miners from the Colliery) where involved in the consultation and commission process through which the Dream was selected. The plans involved a full landscaping of the surrounding area on land previously allowed to go wild after the closure of the pit.
. The structure is coated in sparkling white Spanish dolomite
, as a contrast to the coal which used to be mined here. It cost nearly £1.9 million and it is hoped it will become as powerful a symbol in North West England
as Antony Gormley
's Angel of the North
is in North East England
.
Jaume Plensa himself stated "When I first came to the site I immediately thought something coming out of the earth was needed. I decided to do a head of a nine-year-old girl which is representing this idea of the future. It's unique."
In 2011 Dream received funding by art and culture companies to have Dream lit up and to have a spotlight shining out the top of the head. This links with St Helens' motto
, in English means 'From the ground, light', a reference to dreams reaching the stars.
was added to the mix in order to provide a self cleaning mechanism. The construction required the construction of individual moulds for each piece and took a total of 60 days to cast.
The foundations of the sculpture extend 38m into the ground with 8 piles driven in to secure it.
.
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and a piece of public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
by Jaume Plensa
Jaume Plensa
Jaime Plensa is an Spanish artist and sculptor.-Biography:Plensa was born at Barcelona. Plensa studied art in his home city, in the "Llotja" School and in the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Jorge....
in Sutton, St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
. Costing approximately £1.8m the funds were secured through The Big Art Project
The Big Art Project
The Big Art Project is a UK-wide public art initiative funded by the Channel 4 and Arts Council England. The four part TV series was first broadcast on Sunday 10 May 2009 on Channel 4...
in coordination with the Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
, The Art Fund and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
.
Origin
In 2008 St Helens took part in Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's "The Big Art Project" along with several other sites. The project culminated in the unveiling of "Dream", a 20m sculpture located on the old Sutton Manor Colliery Site.
St Helens retains strong cultural ties to the Coal Industry and has several monuments including the wrought iron gates of Sutton Manor Colliery, as well as the 1995 town centre installation by Thompson Dagnall
Thompson Dagnall
Thompson Dagnall is a British sculptor.Born in Liverpool on 15 February 1956, he attended Liverpool and Brighton Polytechnics before gaining an MA at Chelsea College in 1979....
known as "The Landings" (depicting individuals working a coal seam) and Arthur Fleischmann's Anderton Shearer
Anderton Shearer
The Anderton Shearer Loader is a coal cutting machine which has been used in the UK coal industry since the 1950s. The Anderton Power Loader with its cutting drum up to five feet in diameter was patented in 1953...
monument (a piece of machinery first used at the Ravenhead Mine).
The Council and local residents (including approximately 15 former miners from the Colliery) where involved in the consultation and commission process through which the Dream was selected. The plans involved a full landscaping of the surrounding area on land previously allowed to go wild after the closure of the pit.
The sculpture
The Dream consists of an elongated white structure 20 metres (66 ft) tall, weighing 500 tons, which has been cast to resemble the head and neck of a young woman with her eyes closed in meditationMeditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
. The structure is coated in sparkling white Spanish dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
, as a contrast to the coal which used to be mined here. It cost nearly £1.9 million and it is hoped it will become as powerful a symbol in North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
as Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley
Antony Mark David Gormley OBE RA is a British sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site...
's Angel of the North
Angel of the North
The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture, designed by Antony Gormley, which is located in Gateshead,formerly County Durham, England.It is a steel sculpture of an angel, standing tall, with wings measuring across...
is in North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
.
Jaume Plensa himself stated "When I first came to the site I immediately thought something coming out of the earth was needed. I decided to do a head of a nine-year-old girl which is representing this idea of the future. It's unique."
In 2011 Dream received funding by art and culture companies to have Dream lit up and to have a spotlight shining out the top of the head. This links with St Helens' motto
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, in English means 'From the ground, light', a reference to dreams reaching the stars.
Construction
The Dream sculpture is built out of moulded and cast unique concrete shapes, 90 pieces in all contributing to over 14 tiers (54 individual elements for the head, each weighing 9 tonnes). Dolomite was utilised as a concrete aggregate in order to provide the brilliant white finish. Additionally titanium dioxideTitanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...
was added to the mix in order to provide a self cleaning mechanism. The construction required the construction of individual moulds for each piece and took a total of 60 days to cast.
The foundations of the sculpture extend 38m into the ground with 8 piles driven in to secure it.
Location
The sculpture sited on an old spoil tip of Sutton Manor Colliery which closed in 1991 and it overlooks the M62 motorwayM62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
.
Dream Legacy
A programme of legacy works is due to be launched in May. This includes the Dream Digital Interpretation, a series of audio guides and smartphone applications.External links
- Dream St. Helens - Information about the sculpture