Ipswich Artathon

Ipswich has several sculptures and works of art, so I learned. So I planned a few hours finding as many as I could and photographing them.

The sculptures represent Ipswich`s maritime, industrial and sporting heritage both through the artwork and the landscape that is walked through.

Although I didn't follow the pre planned routes suggested on the Artethom Map, I had a great time just wandering from one of the sculptures to the other and in fact, managed quite a few today. 

The Trawlerman

1992 Sainsburys, Hadleigh Road

John Ravera

Bronze

This sculpture is tucked away out of the town centre at Sainsburys which is close to the river, just before it becomes tidal.

John Ravera was born in Surrey in 1941. He trained at Camberwell School of Art and works mainly in clay for bronze. He is a Past President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and has public monuments scattered over London and the home counties including the much admired "Family Group" near Battersea Bridge as well as works in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Against the Tide

2004 Riverside Walk, Bridge Street

Laurence Edwards

This artwork is next to the skate park, by the river, not far from Cardinal Park. It can be seen from the road if you look carefully. It shows a figure struggling with an imagined wave but he is not defeated. The sculpture harnesses the waters power to stay afloat and travel.

The Navigator

2003 River Gipping/Orwell

John Atkin

Cast Iron

John Atkin was commissioned to make this sculpture for Ipswich, alongside the River Orwell, by Ipswich River Action Group. The sculpture was inspired by Ipswich's Maritime history and industrial past. Influences were found amongst a variety of sources, from nineteenth century stern castings for ships, 

navigational instruments, to pattern templates and the “wheels” of industry.

This work was constructed in corten steel, a material that is synonymous with the area's past industrial use. It stands, 16ft high, alongside the river, adjacent to a cycle path, watching, guarding, a sentinel to a new era. The Navigator alludes to Ipswich's maritime history as well as a navigator for the future. 

Cineworld Bollards

1996 Cineworld, Cardinal Park

Bettina Furnee

These bollards are engraved with lines from films. Bettina Furnee works as a letter cutter and public artist and is based in Cambridge. Her work is site specific and made to commission. She collaborates with communities and has produced text based work for exhibitions. Her public art projects evolve from an interest in the history and future of a particular site.

Sir Bobby Robson Statue

2002 Ipswich Town Football Club

Sean Hedges-Quinn

Bronze

Sir Bobby Robson managed ITFC from 1969 and saw them through the FA cup and UEFA cup, then in 1982 became England boss. He died in 2009 and ITFC renamed their North Stand in his memory. This sculpture was commissioned by the Ipswich Town Supporters' Association and funded by Ipswich Borough Council and TXU.

Sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn, whose day job is to make animatronics for films, has also made a sculpture of FA Cup-winning Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe at the Stadium of Light. Sean works from his studio just outside Ipswich. 

Sir Alf Ramsey Statue

2000 Ipswich Town Football Club

Sean Hedges -Quinn

Bronze

A life size bronze of the former England and Ipswich manager. Sir Alf led ITFC to the league title in 1961-2 and then went on to manage England. He died in 1999. The sculpture was unveiled by Ray Crawford.

Sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn, whose day job is to make animatronics for films, has also made a sculpture of FA Cup-winning Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe at the Stadium of Light. Sean Hedges Quinn works from his studio just outside Ipswich.

Ship

1971 Civic Centre Roundabout, Civic Drive

Bernard Reynolds

Aluminium, steel and fibreglass

In designing this artwork the sculptor "wanted to create a composition which would have a buoyant character and appear to be riding on the fountain jets, its form to be irregular, to produce changing but balanced profiles from different 

view-points and to be an assembly of sail and hull motifs the shapes of which would suggest ships and shipping through the ages - a tribute to Ipswich as a port". 

All the parts were moulded and finally assembled by the sculptor himself with the assistance of two of his students. The internal structure of steel tubes and aluminium castings was made by Ipswich firms and the whole sheathed in aluminium/resin reinforced with glass fibre applied and finished by the sculptor. 

This sculpture is described by the sculptor as "an arrangement in 3-D of 5 units each based on a shape suggesting sails or hulls. It aims to symbolise ships and shipping of all periods, and therefore Ipswich' s long history as a port. The Ship sculpture won the Sir Otto Beit Medal for Sculpture in 1972. 

Sor Of Hing

1963 St Matthew Roundabout

Mervyn Crawford

Aluminium

The installation of this sculpture set-off a flurry of correspondence in the local newspaper. Apparently, its informal nickname derives from one such letter, where the writer referred to it as being the "sort of thing" appropriate to London but not Suffolk. An unfortunate typographic error, on the part of the paper, resulted in the name that many people still know the sculpture by today. 

Sor of Hing was commissioned by architects Hare and Pert for their St Matthews Street roundabout development and was cast in Geoffrey Clarkes Hartest foundry. 

Crawford was born in 1943. A painter, foundryman and naturalist. While on his National Diploma Course in Painting at Ipswich School of Art, he took a year (1961 - 62) off to help his neighbour Geoffrey Clarke with his work on Coventry Cathedral. Has been a marine foundryman and consultant engineer since then. He has always lived in West Suffolk. 

Madonna

1990

Lady Lane

Robert Mellamphy

Bronze

This bronze on the wall in Lady Lane closely resembles the oaken statue which was once in the pilgrim chapel of Our Lady of Grace on this site in medieval times. The original statue is now in a chapel at Nettuo, Italy and Mellaphamy modelled his statue after studying the one in Nettuo. 

Robert Mellamphy was born in Cork City, Ireland in 1927. Studied at Crawford College of Art and Technology (1943-46). He then joined the Royal Air Force and travelled worldwide as an aircraft engineer, continuing this occupation since then with civil airlines. 

Although he lives in Suffolk, Mellamphy still keeps his connections with Cork and is a member of the National Sculpture Factory. 

Tam

1995 Black Horse Lane

Honoria Surie

Bronze

Honoria Surie, the artist who made Tam, was born in Hertfordshire in 1944. She trained at Watford School of Art and is now a painter and potter. The bronze of Tam, the artist's daughter, is Surie's first work in the field of sculpture and is sited on a short plinth on the grass triangle between Black Horse Lane and St Mary Elms Church.

The statue is made of bronze and has a calm and serene feel to it in keeping with its location. 

Triptych

2006 St Mary at the Elms

Charles Gurrey

Ancaster hard white limestone

The three modern sculptures are located in the medieval porch of the Ipswich town centre church of St Mary at the Elms, replacing those which would have been in place here up until the 16th century Anglican Reformation. 

The sculptures depict Christ as Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World. The Blessed Virgin, his mother, is depicted as Stella Maris, Our Lady Star of the Sea, because of the importance of this dedication for the ancient port of Ipswich. St 

John the Evangelist holds the gospel inscribed with his symbol, an eagle. 

The designs were executed by the York-based sculptor Charles Gurrey, and dedicated in 2006. 

Spirit of Youth

1990 St Mary's Court, off Museum Street 

John Ravera 

Bronze 

This work is tucked away in a quiet corner of Ipswich, not far from the town centre. 

John Ravera was born in Surrey in 1941. Trained at Camberwell School of Art. Works mainly in clay for bronze. Past President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. He has public monuments scattered over London and the home counties including the much admired "Family Group" near Battersea 

Bridge as well as works in Hong Kong and Tokyo. 

Harvest Mural

1962 Cox Lane, Behind Coop Department Store

Artist Unknown

Mosaic Wall Mural

This Mosaic was unveiled in March 1962. It is well hidden as you have to go behind the shop to see it, but it is rather large. Go through the arch to the right of the store and then look behind you and up!

There are images in it from the emblems of the cooperative movement, such as a wheat sheaf.

Cranes Tableau

1977 Upper Orwell Street

John A Green

Bronze

John A Green was born in Ipswich in 1932, son of a Master Mason. John gained his Master Mason Certificate in 1951. He studied at Ipswich School of Art (1951-54) and the Royal College of Art (1954-57) where he was encouraged by Prof. John Skeaping. From 1957 until 1959 John was assistant to Jacob Epstein. 

His main run of work is the restoration of church monuments. His work in Ipswich is this bronze panel on a brick plinth in Upper Orwell Street, symbolising the technical development in foundry methods during the fifty years since the firm Cranes came to Ipswich. 

There are several more of these works of art dotted around Ipswich and I will probably return in a few days to find a few more. 

Home

Beauty in Nature - 21 days in July

Sometimes it is awe inspiring to consider the variety in nature that surrounds us, and which we often take for granted, or just plain `don't see`! The images that follow were all taken by me in a period of 21 days in July and could pass unnoticed if I had been in a rush. Unfortunately, for many people there is little alternative to the modern day hustle and bustle. I am one of the lucky ones, I know. Firstly, the star of the week for me ......

....... the Fen Raft Spider. The Raft spider is a large, chunky spider that lives around the edge of ponds and ditches, and on wet heaths and bogs. Adults sit at the edge of the water, or on floating vegetation, with their front legs resting on the water's surface in order to feel for the vibrations of potential prey. Using the surface tension of the water, they chase out on to the water to catch their prey, which will even include tadpoles or small fish. Raft Spiders will also swim underwater, often diving beneath the surface when threatened. 

The much rarer Fen Raft spider is similar to the Raft Spider, but is only found in two places in the UK, one of which is a Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve, which is where I took these images. If you want more information on these fascinating creatures, follow this link. 

Bee gathering nectar.

The Ringlet butterfly

The Speckled Wood

Pest or not, the Garden Snail

Brown Argus

Brown Argus with wings open

Common Green grasshopper

Small White

Common Blue

Small tortoiseshell butterfly

Essex Skipper

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

The beautiful Banded Demoiselle

A Green Veined White - up to its neck!

Stag Beetle or Lucanus cervus if you are into your Latin

Peacock

Four Spotted Chaser

And last, but by no means least - Reed Dagger Moth caterpillar

All in all a great collection of creatures with all their differing colours and habitats, many more I possible passed by. These are the potential casualties to our Climate Change problem, if we don`t start doing something now.

Home

Fire! Fire!

A Sunday morning walk around the lanes of Layham and Shelley was a fairly regular route at the weekend, but the rather close sound of fire engines was certainly not normal! So, looking around at the skyline, I soon spotted a plume of smoke, luckily blowing away from me. It appeared to be only a couple of fields away. As luck would have it I was carrying my camera, so made my way toward the fire. 

In the village of Shelley lives a man who is a thatcher by trade, and unfortunately it was his store in a nearby barn that had caught fire.

By the time I arrived, the building was well alight.

At this stage the building was standing - to a degree.

One fireman pours water into the building.

 The owner looks on helplessly - it's all in someone else's hands.

  

Gradually the whole building collapses into a burning heap.

 All the firemen can do is keep it under control, and dampen down.

When you stand outside the site of the fire, you can see the close proximity of the fire to a thatched residential property! Good job the wind was blowing away from the house.

Home

The seaside town of Cromer in Norfolk

Cromer is a traditional seaside resort and is famous for its pier, home to a lifeboat station and Pavilion Theatre, where the UK’s only remaining traditional end of the pier variety show takes place each Summer and Winter. The pier is an enduring example of Victorian architecture, having withstood many storms, tidal surges and even an attempt to blow it up by the Government in WW2 to prevent the pier being used as a landing strip for enemy invaders! Glad they decided not to! This was a passing visit so had to take a few images.

Firstly the famous pier with a stormy sky in the background

A couple of images of the cliffs and beach huts.

On the path leading down to the promenade, a peek over the edge revealed these steps which instantly appealed to me. The curves and lines just said `take a picture of me` - well, not literally.

At the bottom of these steps was this `compass` which this couple obviously `took a shine` to as well. The whole area was in front of the pier and very tastefully laid out, if that is the correct word. Shame I didn't get a photo of the whole thing!

St Peter and St Paul, Cromer, not a church we looked at but an illustration of one of the small back streets. Just a brief visit and I am sure will return to explore further.

Home

Bugs galore - nature's little wonders

The end of May and beginning of June are great times to see some of the many insects that we have and which are still in good numbers. These images are all taken near home again, and highlight a small but stunning world, most of us are almost unaware of in our busy lives!

This little chap is the red-headed or 'common' cardinal beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis). It is a red to orange beetle with, as the name suggests, a red head. It is about 20 millimetres (0.79 in) long, and is found throughout Britain

A scarce chaser (Libellula fulva) is a species of dragonfly. This one I believe is either a juvenile or a female. The adult male has a bright blue abdomen with patches of black, while the adult female and juvenile male each have a bright orange abdomen. It is about 45 mm in length with an average wingspan of 74 mm. This dragonfly is considered a species of special concern in Great Britain due to loss of its specific ideal habitat. 

Banded Demoiselle 

The Bloody-nosed beetle is a large, round, flightless beetle with long legs that can often be seen plodding across paths or through grass. It can be found during the spring and summer in grassland, heathland and along hedgerows. One of our largest 'leaf beetles', adults feed on the leaves of Lady's Bedstraw and related plants, and the larvae can be seen hanging from these species. Adults are mostly active at night. The strange name of the Bloody-nosed beetle derives from its unusual defence mechanism: when threatened, it secretes a distasteful blood-red liquid from its mouth. 

The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided beetles. One of the first described species has a color pattern reminiscent of the red coats of early British soldiers, hence the common name which has stuck. 

Female Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus) 

Stag beetles are one of our most spectacular insects. The male’s large jaws look just like the antlers of a stag. They spend most of their life underground as larvae, only emerging for a few weeks in the summer to find a mate and reproduce. Stag beetles and their larvae are quite harmless and are a joy to watch. Males are often seen flying around at dusk searching for a mate. They will wrestle or fight other males using their enlarged antler-like jaws. Although they can fly, female beetles are most often seen walking around on the ground. Once they’ve mated, females return to the spot where they emerged, if there is enough rotting wood to feed their young, and dig down into the soil to lay their small, round eggs in rotting wood such as log piles, tree stumps and old fence posts. 

The most obvious problem for stag beetles is a significant loss of habitat. For example, many of London’s surviving open spaces have sadly been developed, including many woodlands. Development will continue to reduce stag beetle habitats, but increased awareness of their existence can help defend the beetles against development. 

In addition the tidying of woodlands, parks and gardens has led to the removal of dead or decaying wood habitats which is the stag beetle larvae’s food source. Tree surgery operations such as stump-grinding of felled trees removes a vital habitat for the beetle. Although tidying up still continues in gardens, woodlands and park managers are now much more aware of the need to retain dead and decaying wood as part of the woodland ecosystem. 

Humans are, unfortunately, a direct threat to stag beetles. Adult beetles are attracted to the warm surfaces of tarmac and pavements, which makes them particularly vulnerable to being crushed by traffic or feet. Stag beetles have a fearsome appearance and sometimes people kill them because they look ‘dangerous’. 

And last, but not least, a Meadow Brown 

Home