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.

Arthur Dooley - Splitting the Atom

Restoring Splitting the Atom - Arthur Dooley’s sculpture at Daresbury Laboratory @scitechdaresbury from 1970. A piece close to our hearts. We still believe there is a magic relationship between art & science.

Read full blog about the piece and its scientific links from UKRI - UK research & Innovation;

https://www.ukri.org/blog/bringing-scientific-sculpture-back-to-life/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Orlo&utm_content=STFC+-+Daresbury+Lab+content.

Artist Arthur Dooley (in the hat in the background) with a TV documentary crew at Daresbury Laboratory in the 1970s. Pictured in the foreground in white shoes is artist Stephen Broadbent who has worked on the sculpture restoration. Credit: STFC

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Captured by Paul Aden

“Art is a powerful tool for us to bring science to a wider audience, so it is important that the Arthur Dooley sculpture is here for many more years.

The work that Stephen and his team have done has brought it back to life, ensuring that staff and visitors can enjoy it fully now and I am delighted with Stephen’s support and contribution.

It seems especially fitting as it is Daresbury Laboratory’s 60th year, so the restoration is part of that story now as well.”

— Stu Buxton, STFC Regional Head of Estates and Facilities (North)

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Imagery created for the vision document for the Linear Light Gardens proposal - highlighting this Dooley piece was a central conceptual catalyst for the artworks at Daresbury.

https://broadbent.studio/daresbury

The creation of a linear park, with a pathway that leads you through a story of science crafted in glass, stone and steel and integrated into a shaped landscape. It is a ‘pathway of progress’ as you walk out from the heart of the science park with five feature gardens. It is a welcoming ‘gateway into wonderland’ when you arrive at the park.

City Fields - Wakefield - Concept document

Artist Statement

We are an art and design studio that has demonstrated the role art plays as part of the built environment, and how it works with the rest of its surroundings to create a sense of place, which is the challenge faced by City Fields, as this new community starts to inhabit this former industrial area. 

This is nothing new, as throughout history, wherever people have chosen to build a settlement, they have also crafted something of their own lives, their story or aspiration - a narrative perhaps fashioned in stone, metal and glass or acted out in the market or harbour place. 

We always feel privileged to be invited into places built over generations, to help rediscover or re-invent something of their collective story. The City Fields story may feel it is just starting but of course it builds on an older narrative, that reveals the patterns and routines of people’s lives and presents a unique natural environment built by it. 

Following initial research we have seen something that particularly stands out in our minds and prompts us to explore further. This is how the ecology of the area has adapted to this industrial landscape, inhabiting man-made green corridors such as the railway and canal, and the watercourses created by collapsed mines. 

We are particularly intrigued by the concept of green corridors, and would be keen to explore how this could be expressed visually. 

Green corridors are a meeting point for diverse groups of flora and fauna, whether they are corridor dwellers or passage users. They are vital refuges for biodiversity in the urban landscape and also important spaces for our own recreation and wellbeing, including our education in ecology. 

Making the commission

After the development stage, the City Fields animals where fabricated in Ulverston at CB Arts and currently waiting to be installed after a series of delays. We cannot wait to see the colourful animals within this post industrial landscape. Look out for installation soon.

Stephen Broadbent and Chris Brammall at CB Arts looking at the City Fields piece in their workshop.

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Making the animals for the Apothecary's Garden - UCLH

We are looking at locally sourced stone rather than an imported option. With regard to colour & texture, we looked for a good contrast with both the planting and the granite of the planter wall. The durability of the stone is also a consideration and also its ease of cleaning, suggesting a more polished finish. The final choice of stone was made in consultation with the Hospital Trust.

The Stone Animals

Working with our good friend Stone carver Adrian Wright - and his ability to capture the essence of the sleeping animals within the stone.

Installation of the sleeping animals in the Apothecary’s Garden at UCLH - November 2020

The Duck

The Fox

Pilgrim Porch

A new window into the Cathedral.

Contribute to a diocesan wide art project. 

The design of a sculptural bronze porch with ceremonial glass doors for the west end of Chester Cathedral will be unveiled in 2022 as part of the Queen’s platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The artwork within the glass will encapsulate a significant and meaningful photograph of a particular element from your church

Our vision is to include every single church in the diocese.

“Bishop Mark says: “It is relatively rare that an artist is commissioned to create a new permanent fixture for the interior of a medieval Cathedral.

Once completed our medieval west doors will be open and passers-by will be able to glimpse through the beautiful glass doors into the Cathedral and down the nave to the quire at the heart of the Cathedral. The porch will open the Cathedral to the city, inviting those outside in to explore further our beautiful Cathedral and discover the community that can be found inside.”

— https://www.chester.anglican.org/news/every-church-invited-to-contribute-to-new-jubilee-artwork.php

Find out more about the process

Alder Hey Children's charity Brighter Futures Auction

RECONCILIATION SCULPTURE

https://live.adampartridge.co.uk/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/290?page=2

Stephen has donated one of our most loved and significant Limited Editions for this good cause, close to our heart.

The piece is from a significant project starting in 1989. A positive and hopeful symbol, Reconciliation grew from the expression of an individual desire for reconciliation, to a project that spanned and linked the cities of Belfast, Glasgow and Liverpool. https://broadbent.studio/reconciliation

The project then developed to form a reconciliation triangle between Liverpool, Benin and Richmond Virginia,

https://broadbent.studio/casestudies#/reconciliation-triangle-casestudy/

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.

Moving Bradford Pit Memorial long awaited unveiling

On 5th September 2021 the Bradford Pit Memorial had a significant community unveiling.

Go to Project page

The memorial will continue to have a community focus - as the piece will hopefully become that signpost to the wider project, linking to aural histories and the legacy of the miners, and mining community. Broadbent Studio has felt privileged to be on this journey with Lauren and the miners group in realising their vision for a physical memorial.

For community involvement see the facebook group and website.

https://www.facebook.com/bradfordpitmemorial

https://bradfordpit.com/

Ongoing Projects : Becoming Visible

We try to keep you updated on our exciting projects and new ventures through social media.

There are also some projects that we are trying to make happen.

See our vision document for a new project entitled; Becoming Visible.

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On 20th November 2019 we took part in activities hosted at St George’s Hall, Liverpool for UNICEF World Children’s Day. See full vision document .

BECOMING VISIBLE IS A PUBLIC ART PROPOSAL THAT ANSWERS THREE CALLS:

1. The call to erect a beacon to the Rights of the Child 

2. The call to create a grown-up public space for children 

3. The call to involve children in public life

Available to buy : Longing & Enveloped

These two limited edition bronze birds were created and exhibited as part of the annual Sandstone Ridge Festival, Cheshire, May 2019.

Visit Small Works page for more detail or get in touch with the studio.

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MAKING

Stephen in studio working on the patina and finish for the birds.

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The Eudaemonium hidden bookcase

The Eudaemonium project would also like your input - for more information see the project page.

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WHAT IS THE EUDAEMONIUM?

A living sculptural book that grows as people contribute to it.

The Eudaemonium stands in the square as a symbol of a community’s hidden treasure and acts as a physical marker within the landscape to encourage people to collect and share routes to well-being with one-another.

There is a hidden locked bookcase built within the spine of the sculpture, which houses the compendium of recipes and remedies or routes to well-being.