The Hook Norton Panels
Commissioned for the new school in Hook Norton Oxfordshire, funded by Oxford County Council as a Per Cent for Art project, and installed in 1992. I spent several months researching local history and the industrial archaeology of the area, visiting and interviewing local people and businesses, and holding drawing sessions with the children of the school. The piece comprises five separate panels held in place by the carved, decorative framing. Carved from lime, it is painted with watercolour with a varnish finish.
Original
122cm x 305cm x 5cm
This was one of the first major commissions of my woodcarving career. As with other Public Art commissions I have carried out, there was a long incubation period during which I gathered my visual reference material, took many photographs, filled a sketchbook, and made lots of drawings, arriving at a full-size cartoon which I used to produce the carved panels. Altogether I spent about a year making this piece. Installed 1992, photographed again 23 June 2015.
