This area is packed with history and these artworks have picked out four fascinating stories which illustrate this:
We have the story of medical innovation in John Snow who removed the handle of a water pump to prevent the spread of Cholera.
The determination of one of the female medical students who, for a long time were allowed to study but not to graduate.
An extraordinary priest who rode a horse to visit his parishioners.
A police force based here, alongside the Newcastle Gaol which, in the nineteenth century was a huge imposing structure in the city and designed by John Dobson.
The steel patterns in the artworks hint at the architectural icons of the surrounding buildings as well as carrying the patterns of this rich history.
The artworks were all created in steel using industrial processes: laser-cutting and perforated steel. Each of the stories brings out something of Newcastle that may be little known about or perhaps has just disappeared.
Once the artworks are re-located after the building works have finished they will provide an interesting and informative addition to this new part of a renewed Newcastle.
The artworks were fabricated by our long-term partners CB Arts in Ulverston and the perforated panels done by Graepels. I particularly love using industrial processes in the creation of art and to use this kind of fabrication for the heart of a proud industrial city seems highly appropriate. The client and team behind the development were at the heart of all the designs and decision making and we worked very closely with Avison Young in Newcastle.
Historical subjects for the artworks
The development of the artworks was done in a methodical manner where we examined and explored the space the historical significance of the surroundings. This brought us into contact with such historical themes as the Old Gaol designed by John Dobson.
The site was once the site of the Medical School and where John Snow (1813-58) was a doctor and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology, in part because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in London, in 1854, which he curtailed by removing the handle of a water pump.
John Snow themes and artwork showing some of the medical implements that were used during his time in practise.
Grace Harwood Stewart became on of the earliest graduates of Newcastle College of medicine. In 1896 three students from the London School of Medicine for Women, unable to graduate from that institution, registered at the College of Medicine at Newcastle to complete their medical degrees: Grace Harwood Stewart (Billings) pictured above, Margaret Joyce and Claudia Anita Prout. We were very pleased to be lent a lovely photograph of Grace by her grandson which was then perforated in steel.
Grace Billings themes and medical implements which were then laser cut into steel.
As this was the site of the Police Station we then were fascinated to learn that Newcastle Police Force was formed in 1836 when Newcastle was one of Europe’s biggest industrial cities and was one of the first modern police forces. The Pilgrim Street station was also a fire station. Each foot beat had a large police box where officers could rest and ‘ring-in’ to their main station and the public had access to a phone for advice or to summon help.
Newcastle Police force themes and research.
Father James Worswick was a selfless man who founded the Catholic Church here. St Andrew’s in Worswick Street, occupies a pre-eminent position in the story of Catholic Tyneside, largely through its extraordinarily dynamic first pastor, James Worswick. A respected, selfless man who gave forty years of loyal service to the city and people. We were given access to an original painting in St Andrew’s Church so we could convert into a perforated steel panel. We coupled this theme with scenes of buses from the once prominent Worswick Street Bus Station.