Norwich Fringe Festival, Art Trail, Saints or Sinners

I have now almost completed my two new works for the summer house at the top of Will Giles's exotic garden. It is such a wonderful location a work of art in its own right, I am honored to be able to work with in it. The two works are a pair and relate to the climate change area of the garden which Will has designed for plants that will thrive with global warming. In my work I am looking at the different facets of us all learning to cope with the reality of climate change and our ways of responding to it. What morels come into play when the stakes are so high.

The main feature of these two works are feathers, all found in the wild around Norfolk. The feathers/blades represent the double edged sword dilemma of the wind turbine. A bird's feather has been seen as a thing of beauty from ancient times, while the sight of a turbine blade for many is ugly. The proposals for building wind turbines give rise to very strong feelings and the formation of anti turbine protests groups. Yet other groups of people see elegance in the form and function of wind turbines and have no objections, but as yet I am not aware of groups of local people forming pro turbine groups. The shape of a wing feather and turbine blade is very similar as their functions are similar and the symbolism is powerful, so what role is our aesthetics having in shaping and saving our world?

One consequence of the strong local protest lobbies against wind turbines/farms has had the effect of pushing the construction of them off shore. A sure case of out of sight, out of mind.
A larger offshore wind-farm of up to 108 turbines is planned off of the North Norfolk coast in 2008; it will be visible on clear days from the shore. The formation of the wind-farm will be a symmetrical grid of turbines forming a diamond or lozenge shape 12km long. A large example of Sir Thomas Brown's quincunx grid. This area is of great importance to birds. Four birds species: Red Throated Diver, Terns , Greater Black backed Gull and the Scoter Duck, have been identified as at risk from fatal bird strike with the rotors and disturbance from badly sited wind farms. The effect on the wider range of bird and sea life is unpredictable. It may also affect the local fishing industry. However as the RSPB state “If global warming is not halted it will be the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide”. Creating a greener national electricity grid is an essential part of that process. Are wind turbines part of out salvation? Are they saints or sinners?

The significance of the symbolism of three elements joined in the center as the sign of the Holy Trinity has also impacted greatly on my work. The spiritual effect of the world being in the grips of elemental powers that are beyond human control has influenced my work. The thought of winged guardian angels keeping watch over life on earth is a very comforting concept. For centuries the carved angels of Norfolk's medieval church roofs have kept watch over the congregations. Linking the concepts of spiritual, elemental and man-made power form another trinity.

© Sue White

Slash07 Exhibition

The exhibition has one more day to run. Judging by the comments in the visitors book it has been a great success. St Margaret's is a lovely building to exhibit in. I have enjoyed taking part, our varied work has harmonised together really well. I feel we have succeeded in what we set out to do as Slash07.


Wind Spirts 1
©Sue White 2007

Wind Spirit Tribute

The loss of my father and the opening of my first group exhibition happening together are a coming of age marker point in my life.

I have dedicated this piece of work to my father as it was in progress at the time of his death. The spiritual element of the piece took on new meaning as I worked on it.











Wind Spirit Tribute. © Sue White

Inspiration on Eigg

I went away to the Isle of Eigg from May 9th to 27th. An inspirational place, with its wild landscape of rocky highlands, so different from Norfolk. We stayed in a croft house with no electricity, lit by gas lamps and candles.
The bird-life on the island is one of it's greatest draws. We had a corncrake calling day and night circling our cottage, who would never let itself be seen. It's call was accompanied during the day by ravens, cuckoos and sedge warblers, at night by the ghostly call of nesting shearwaters on the rock cliffs. Eigg was just the place to spend time working in more depth on my currant work on the form of birds and their feathers. The relationship between birds and wind turbines was also an issue on the island. Eigg is in the process of installing a electrical supply for the island powered by environmentally friendly sources, including three wind turbines. Through careful siting agreed with local wildlife experts they will be placed on a part of the island where conflict with bird activity will be minimal.
The first thing I felt drawn to do was to make a quill pen from a feather found on the beach. This seemed fitting not only for the low tech atmosphere of the croft house, but I also wanted to work in the most direct way with the subject of my study. I found the wing feather washed up on the beach, it was probably from a gull or a gannet. I have worked with metal nib pens for many years producing archaeological finds drawings, loving the directness and subtlety that can be archived in the quality of the line. Cutting the feather in to a nib was a lot harder than I have envisaged. The quill got shorter and shorter with each attempt, until on the fourth cut it worked. Not the finest of nibs but it was my own and it was a thrill to work with it. My first sketch made with it was of a seabird.

Submission for Norwich Fringe Festival

Wind Turbines Saints/Sinners

This is a mock up for a current work in progress for location in St Margaret's Church, Norwich. It is one of many site specific works I am working on at the moment.
It is constructed of white feathers suspended as a veil. The pattern reflects the three blades of a wind turbine and the grid they form on mass. The feather/blades represent the double edged sword dilemma of the wind turbine. The are many facets to this such as; a bird's feather is seen as a thing of beauty but the sight of a turbine blade
for many is ugly. Yet the shape of both is very similar as their functions are similar. Badly sited wind turbines kill and disturb birds, yet the main threat to bird life are the effects of global warming.
I like using the context of the church as this piece also recognizes the significance of the symbolism of three joined in the center as the sign of the Holy Trinity. Are wind turbines part of out salvation?

Other works I want to produce will introduce movement into the pieces. I have plans for a large scale hanging mobile. I hope I will have the chance to add some of my work to the art trail around the city.

New Work for Exhibition in June 2007

New work produced for the Slash07 Exhibition 11th to 23rd June at
St Margaret's
Church,
St. Benedicts Street, Norwich.
Please come and
view more of my work and that of the other seven members of the group.

Form/Function

I see the dominant “Spirit of the Age” as our awareness of global warming, and the struggle to come to terms with it. The icon of this for me is the large wind turbine. Wind farms are a growing and powerful presence in our land and seascapes. The range of reactions to them fascinates me, and the proposed locations for them always seem to be highly controversial. An offshore wind-farm of 30 turbines off of Cromer has consent and should be under construction shortly. A second larger offshore wind-farm of up to 108 turbines is planned off of Salthouse; it will be visible on clear days. The formation of the wind-farm will be a symmetrical grid of turbines forming a diamond or lozenge shape 12km long. There will be strong opposition as the area is of great importance to birdlife. Four birds species have been identified as at risk from fatal bird strike with the rotors, and the effect on the wider range of bird and sea life is unpredictable. It may also affect the local fishing industry. However as the RSPB state “If global warming is not halted it will be the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide”. Creating a greener national electricity grid is an essential part of that process.

In my recent work I have been exploring some of these issues looking at contradictions between: strong resistance to change / urgent need for change, selfishness/sacrifice, winners/losers, saints/sinners, iconic Norfolk windmills (Cley) good/wind turbines bad. I find the form of the three blade rotors beautiful and the motion mesmerising. The form and function of a rotor blade is similar to that of a bird’s wing feather and the symbolism is powerful. The iconography of the pattern of three formed by the rotor blades and the hub has a deeper significance as the sign of the Holy Trinity, the magic pre-Christian Celtic symbol of the Triskele and the anti nuclear logo of CND.