Global Patterns - Rochdale Town Hall

FABRIC FROM FIVE CONTINENTS

CORE IDEA

Once Rochdale sent textiles out across the world; today they come from across the world to Rochdale. An echo of the past and a nod to Rochdale’s multi-cultural present.

On site at Rochdale Town Hall. Adrian Wright and Stephen Broadbent installed the ceramic units for the seats. The landscape is coming together - a full transformation for what was a carpark.

CONTEXT

The refurbishing of Rochdale Town Hall and its surrounding area. This included the planting of five trees, to be encircled by themed seating. According to Pevsner, Rochdale Town Hall is the premier example of Gothic Revival civic architecture in the country. It stands very proud and was built with the proceeds of Rochdale’s flourishing 19th-century textile business, which at that time exported its wares across the world. But that was long ago. The time had come for a facelift and the Council were keen to inject new life into the building and its surroundings. An artwork outside such an important building, however, would have to say something about the town, then and now.

VISITING THE SEATS

We have enjoyed some sunshine as the seasons change - and we took this opportunity for a good afternoon of people watching alongside a cold beer from The Olde Courtyard.

The dappled shade from the trees, and the tactile, colourful seats offered a playground to explore. Even in the heat wave the seats were comfortable to sit on and the patterns sparked conversations.

ROCHDALE REGENERATION

We are a small part of a much wider regeneration, so many exciting projects being realised surrounding the restoration of the Town Hall - capturing story-telling, history and engaging communities. These interventions celebrate the area - and the notion of placemaking.

“Gillespies designed the new town square, which is being transformed to complement the lottery-supported restoration of the Grade I listed Rochdale Town Hall.

The area has been transformed from a car park into a high-quality public plaza, with beautiful benches designed by Broadbent Studio and created by Darwen Terracotta, offering visitors a chance to meet and relax under the new trees.”
— Gillespies

DETAILS

Not all the colours representing the continents are accessible yet - they are hiding behing the hoardings. We have - Pink for Africa, Sky blue for Europe, Greeny brown / browny green for Oceania, Purply midnight blue for Asia and Sandy gold for Americas. Stories for all the patterns to follow soon.

The making of Global Patterns - Rochdale Town Hall

FABRIC FROM FIVE CONTINENTS

CORE IDEA

Once Rochdale sent textiles out across the world; today they come from across the world to Rochdale. An echo of the past and a nod to Rochdale’s multi-cultural present.

Ceramic sections in the workshop at Darwen - the pink glaze representing Asia.

Each circular bench is made up of nine individual seats, all bearing textile patterns from a particular continent. In total, there are 45 individual patterns. We have rendered these as arrangements of lines and dots pressed into wet clay. When the clay is fired, titanium glaze collects in the recesses and the patterns become two-tone, iridescent faience.

The patterns themselves are of several different kinds. Some are drawn from designs simply painted or printed onto fabric, others from designs created in the weave. Some describe a certain technique such as tie-dye, appliqué or embroidery. Still others show in close-up the structure of a particular type of fabric itself. All represent textiles that have come to be identified, whether over thousands of years or just a few decades, with a certain part of the world.

A continent contains many countries located in a fewer number of zones. So for each bench we have chosen patterns from as wide a spread of cultures as possible, but composed them into three groups. Our hope is to build up a mosaic of patterns which is at once diverse and harmonious - recognisable as the cultural mosaic of a continent.

CONCEPT IMAGES

MAKING

Our small team enjoyed working at Darwen Terracotta’s workshops - being present for the full process of making and especially enjoying the light from the large windows.

A NEW TECHNIQUE

We worked with the wet clay before it was fired - creating new tools in order to press the different forms and shapes into the clay, changing the amount of pressure or depth needed. There was definitely a state of flow as we worked steadily and slowly to recreate the patterns.

UNDERSTANDING THE GLAZE

Working with Tamzin from Darwen on testing and comparing the different glaze combinations.

DETAILS IN THE GLAZE

More details and stories from each pattern to come.

“Warren Chapman, associate partner at landscape architecture Gillespies, said: “We are delighted to see the progress on bringing new life into the heart of Rochdale town centre.

“The completed project will transform a sea of car parking into a people-friendly civic space for generations of Rochdale residents to enjoy and cherish.”

Darwen Terracotta owner Jon Wilson said: “While we work worldwide, it is always heart-warming to be involved with work on our doorstep.

“We were delighted to collaborate with Broadbent on this project, and look forward to seeing the final installation of the benches. We hope the people of Rochdale greatly enjoy this exciting new town square.”

The town hall and square are expected to be reopened to the public later this year.”
— Rochdale online


Highlighting stone sculptural markers installed Manor Royal

Manor Royal Heritage Trail - Carved limestone sculpture

Yesterday

YESTERDAY

The idea behind this artwork was to create a sense of looking into the past.

It takes its starting point from the image of tree rings. Everybody knows a tree ring represents one year, but this must mean each ring could in theory be pulled out like a napkin ring - the year 1936, for example, could become an object in itself. "What would happen," we asked ourselves, "if we cut a section of an oak trunk, set it on its side and were able to push the rings back with our hand?"

What happens is that a shape is produced that looks from the outside a bit like an old bellows camera. From the inside, a tunnel is created that becomes deeper towards the centre - deeper the further back in time one goes, as though one is literally looking 'into the past.' If we remove the central few rings we get an aperture. Now the eye is drawn down into the tree rings and through into what lies beyond.

This stone-carved sculpture sits just to the south of Metcalf Way. Orientated with the narrow aperture pointing down the bridle way towards Langley Green, where the view through would be one that has changed little since well before the coming of Manor Royal and the development of County Oak. Carved into the sculpture is the word 'Yesterday.' 

TOMORROW

The concept combines the idea of a spiral, suggestive of dynamic growth, with the idea of future potential contained within the seed. The acorn is thought to speculate about a future time rather than actually showing it, thereby inviting similar questions for all of us.

The frame imagery relates to an architect's drawing board on which ideas and possibilities are being sketched. The blasted code revealed on the acorn’s surface, holds a mystery with in it that will shape the seed’s future. Carved along the edge of the sculpture in futuristic font, is the word ‘Tomorrow’.

Both the Yesterday and Tomorrow pieces express the act of trying to look backwards and forwards from the standpoint of today, not actual time travel.

MAKING PROCESS

Our friend and creative partner, Adrian Wright, the renowned Stone Mason, enjoyed the challenge of the complex form and layers of imagery.

Revisiting the installation of Chatham Water Seats

We installed Chatham Waters seats last June - it was part of a wider vision document and Art & Place sourcebook we created for the re-development of the area.

CONCEPT DOCUMENT

River of Life - 30 year anniversary of Warrington bombing

Thinking about crafting remembrance.

Monday 20th April 2023 marked 30 years since the IRA bomb took the lives of Tim Parry, Jonathan Ball and Bronwen Vickers. It shook the community of Warrington, sparking international outrage and a renewed determination to find a peace process.

It was good to see the community still cherishing the River of Life streetscape all these years later, created as both memorial and response to the destruction of that day. I believe the street has played a small part in the healing of the town, and it was encouraging to see how the craft detail and high quality materials have endured all this time.

River of Life Case-study - read more

My feeling was that the street was not just physically broken but spiritually, and a response should come from a desire to bring hope, freshness and new life back to Bridge Street. Allowing the development to become, not a stark memorial in an unaltered landscape, but a symbol of renewal and faith in the power of the human spirit to triumph over adversity and to invest the future with hope.

Water, both in its literal and symbolic forms, is the key to the sculpture. It is the tears shed by victims of loss, but it is also a symbol of healing, of cleansing and renewal.

Stephen Broadbent

Making. The desire was to bring hope, freshness and new life to Bridge Street and the community. A streetscape concept emerged, incorporating every aspect of the urban landscape and its elements including paving, seating units and lighting columns.

News clip from 1999

Bronze details

Warrington Peace Centre

Colin and Wendy Parry were thrust into the public gaze and together with the NSPCC established a peace centre in Warrington. The Foundation for Peace and NSPCC joined forces to raise funds for the £3million Centre opened on 20th March 2000...the 7th anniversary of the IRA bomb.

http://www.thepeacecentre.org.uk

Colin Parry said he and his wife Wendy had "focused so much on turning something bad into something good". They established the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation which opened in March 2000, on the seventh anniversary of the boys' deaths.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-64995094

Father & Daughter

Father and Daughter was commissioned as a retirement gift for the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire David Briggs CVO, MBE, KStJ in September 2021.

The movement in the piece is incredible - it has a playful yet classic feel, with a dark patina.

Modelling process

The piece was modelled by Stephen to create the pattern, which was cast in bronze at Castle Fine Arts Foundry in Oswestry using the lost wax process.

This is number one of a limited edition of 8. Please feel free to get in touch. Or visit Small works page if interested.

Water of Life - limited bronze editions

Restoring the ‘Water of Life’ sculpture in Chester Cathedral’s cloister garden, a much admired artwork completed in 1994.

“When I was finishing the installation all those years ago I was asked then if I was restoring it, and nearly thirty years later here we are, making it look new again.”

Offering new views of the well loved and familiar sculpture - looking up at the figures from below. The water feature depicts the encounter between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria, showing their shared bowl overflowing with water. The theme of water also suggests a link to how the Benedictine monks water supply was at the centre of the cloister garden. 

We were also pleased to launch the sale of a limited edition maquette of this artwork, capturing the delicate details and texture alongside the beautiful interaction of the figures.

Visit the small works page - or get in touch with the studio for more information.

2022 Reflection

A SUMMARY OF THE YEAR - 2022

At our first studio gathering of 2023 I asked, ‘what did we actually achieve this last year?’ Prompting me to reflect on all the work completed and hopes going forward in this quick summary of the year.

I was quickly reminded of the wonderfully colourful X-Ray Specs, and installing them in Daresbury Sci-tech park in February in a snow storm. But the year had already began in earnest, with the rush to complete the foundry patterns for Chester Cathedral’s ‘Pilgrim Porch’ before the end of January. Chris Brammall was anxious to fabricate the sections that needed casting at Meighs foundry in Stoke, in time for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations over the spring bank holiday.

At the end of January, Lorraine & I were thrilled to travel to Maryland USA to attend the wedding of our youngest son Isaac to his beloved Lois. Happy Days!


In February,  a series of public consultations were held in the five proposed locations of the Bosworth 1485 Sculpture Trail. Life-size mock-ups were erected with all of the many stakeholders in attendance.

Calm before the storm

A New Order

The Storm Breaks

The Healing

Piecing together the past

Early June saw the celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The ‘Pilgrim Porch’ was successfully installed, and the doors hung just in time, a significant achievement by everyone involved, especially the team from CB Arts Ltd.

As part of this ambitious project an invitation had also been sent to every parish church and chaplaincy in the diocese of Chester, asking to contribute an image for a labyrinth design, to be encapsulated in the new glass doors. This mammoth task of curating 367 images was patiently undertaken by Lorraine & Lucy and completed with an image to represent each faithful community across the whole Diocese..

Also in June, we were pleased to finally install the first part of the RFA settings in Chatham docks, a project helping tell the story of this significant location. Incidental dockyard objects serve as seating and interpretive objects, celebrating the history of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

For a summer exhibition in St Boniface church in Bunbury, I exhibited ‘Broken Bow’ an artwork created some years ago, that I’d been keen to present in a new way. We plan to exhibit this piece again this year.

In August, we had the first opportunity to visit and photograph (without heras fencing) our 2 carved stone sculptures, which form part of the Manor Royal Arts & Heritage trail in Crawley. Entitled ‘Tommorrow’ & ‘Yesterday’, it was encouraging to see them looking at home in their environment, that provides a much welcomed green space to walk or take a break.

Early September we installed the final 12 ‘Walking Together’ figures. A memorial to the 106 men killed in mining disasters at Markham Colliery in Derbyshire. The completion of this deeply moving 10 year project was celebrated by the many volunteers and families involved, at an event on the 12 October.

Later in September Lorraine & I were pleased to invest time restoring the ‘Water of Life’ sculpture in Chester Cathedral’s cloister garden, a much admired artwork completed in 1994. When I was finishing the installation all those years ago I was asked then if I was restoring it, and nearly thirty years later here we are, making it look new again. We were also pleased to launch the sale of a limited edition maquette of this artwork.

Another artwork we felt privileged to restore this year was Arthur Dooley’s ‘Mandela’. This sculpture was lost for over 50 years, and created by Arthur when Mandela was more a wanted terrorist, than international statesman. We were also very pleased to help restore Arthur’s very dramatic ‘Splitting the Atom’ sculpture installed in Daresbury research centre in 1971.

In November we installed ‘Living Landscapes’ a trail of 5 animal themed artworks in CityFields, Wakefield. Forged by Chris Brammall the corrugated animal shapes highlight the rich habitat of this post industrial green corridor.

Living Landscapes

Continuing the animal theme, Peter developed the initial maquettes for the much loved stone carved ‘sleeping animals’ in the ‘Apothecary’s Garden’ at UCLH Hospital London.

The year ended with days spent in the Darwen Terracotta factory, hand-pressing textile patterns into 45 bolts of fabric cast in clay. When fired & glazed they will form a series of 15 seating units, entitled ‘Global Patterns ’for the newly refurbished Rochdale Town Hall Square - watch this space.

So looking back, 2022 was a busy and productive year, and we are very thankful to all our partners and collaborators that enabled so much to happen. Let’s hope this coming year will be equally significant. We are especially looking forward to installing the terracotta seats in Rochdale and hopefully start to build the long awaited Bosworth 1485 sculpture trail.

Stephen Broadbent

Jan 2023

Walking Together - Memorial

The #WalkingTogether memorial will be completed upon the installation of the remaining 13 figures representing the following men who lost their lives in the 1938 disaster.

https://markhamstorymine.org/?fbclid=IwAR3RL691oZQkCsiaRbOgOMiyA1gw_1i5ihxwcTJRojMX2tnhA5w8ZBN8ToQ

Over the past few months Derbyshire-based photographer David John King has been busy behind the scenes capturing photos and video of all the #WalkingTogether activity to create a short film about the project as it reaches the conclusion of a 10 year journey. David will also be capturing new oral histories for https://markhamstorymine.org Here's a few photos of the final figures being installed. Supported by @HeritageFundUK

Kate Watson

Walking Together mining memorial: Markham Vale Heritage Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/769870329844412/

WALKING TOGETHER EVENT - THURSDAY 13th OCTOBER AT 1 PM – 4:30 PM

Please drop in the Markham Vale Environment Centre between 1-4.30.
You will be able to view the work of schools and community members created as part of the ‘10 Years of Walking Together’ engagement project, have refreshments at the Centre and meet with others interested in the trail and Markham’s mining heritage. You will then be able to walk the trail at your leisure. You do not need to book for this event. Markham Vale Environment Centre, Markham Lane, Chesterfield, S44 5HY

In 2012 Broadbent studio was appointed to create a unique artwork to remember the 106 miners who died in the major disasters of 1937,38 & 73 at Markham Colliery.

Our aim was to create a living memorial to remember Markham Vale's three significant mining disasters, and to celebrate and acknowledge the Miners themselves. 

The memorial takes the form of 106 larger than life size steel figures, stretching between the village of Duckmanton and the former pit head of Markham Colliery.

This walking trail of figures symbolises a miner’s journey to the pit and back home again. The artwork will boldly cut through this dramatic industrial landscape creating a ‘desire line’ for visitors to re-imagine and remember the lives of all miners, in particular those who lost their lives for their work.

The 53 figures walking home after a shift underground will have a darker finish on the steel, compared to the 53 brighter figures walking to the pit to start a shift.

The people, supporters, sponsors have owned this project and allowed it to grow. As demonstrated by the active community and facebook group - it is an honour and privilege to have worked on this memorial for the past 10 years - and to see and experience the wider legacy for the project.

The Apothecary's Garden - The things of this world

Proposal for the UCLH Garden

clay models of the animals

CONCEPT

To undergo Proton Beam Therapy is to leave for a moment the familiar world.  The patient enters a hi-tech environment so alien to their everyday experience they might as well be an astronaut on a mission to Mars.

Afterwards, it is as though they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and have to reacquaint themselves with the things of this world.  In this somewhat shell-shocked spirit they find the Apothecary’s Garden.

The Apothecary’s Garden is a place of healing.  It is a haven of peace after Proton Beam Therapy and it contains plants from which to make medicine.  But its greatest potential to heal lies in the fact it is a garden.  A garden in which there are things like plants to help the patient remember the world they know.

We would like to build on this idea and bring a little more of the natural world around us into this place.  Plants belong with animals, and we have in mind a series of animal sculptures carved in stone and set into the wall of each planter.  We hope, through the familiarity of our chosen animals and a softness in the design of our sculptures, to enhance the soothing and therapeutic effect of the Apothecary’s Garden.

We would love to develop a series of hand hold pieces - celebrating the tactile nature of these sleeping animals.

More information about how this project developed to follow.