Taking shape....

Today I went to the Fyfe Glenrock yard to see how things were going. Although they had hoped to have finished roughing out the Pitcaple stone, a difficult week meant that they were a little behind, but it was still great to see that work was actually beginning. Over the past days or so one of the most skilled masons in the yard has been taking the angled edges off the cube shape and using a chipboard template as a guide pulling out a sphere from the rock. Even with the aid of diamond blades, compressors and dust extractors this is demanding work, both mentally and physically. There is a possibility that this stone, the smallest of the three at 600mm, could possibly when a little more reduced, be offered to the turning lathe, which could save time and I guess release the mason for other pressing tasks.

(Increasing respect for the ancients........)

If you look at the images above however you will no doubt see where we are a little concerned... there is definately a crack.. however it does not seem to run all the way through the stone and we hope that with care it will stay that way. This can be the face of the sphere eventually nearest the ground and we hope that the drilling and pinning which will be required to fix the stone to the site will help to stabilise the fault.

This is one of the hazards of working with any stone, but particularly local stone, which may have been blasted from the quarry wall. By trying to stay true to the ethos of the project , which is partly to celebrate the local geology, archaeology, and stone industry past and present, we may have to be prepared to adapt our working methods.

The material now is making its own demands - asserting its character, formed so long ago, and we must find a way to respond synpathetically and embrace these qualities.

Meantime...another project...

Sandwiched between my efforts to progress the OMart pieces, I have been working on a couple of projects which have culminated in exhibitions at the Woodend Barn Arts Centre over in Banchory, on Deeside. The first is 'Calendar Variations' which runs until April 27th, and the second is 'The Redsuit Project Who's Who', which is open from 1st - 26th May. Please visit www.woodendbarn.co.uk for information and opening times etc.

Aberdeen's Rock Festival!

Today I stumbled upon a leaflet promoting this latest (not rock!) festival. So it would seem that Omart has its fingers on the pulse - perhaps I will contact the festival curator and alert her to the efforts we are making to respect and celebrate aspects of the local stone working traditions.

Here is some text from the brochure.

'Aberdeen has a unique cityscape created over 200 years of using granite for building, sculpture and monuments. Aberdonians sculpted the city itself out of the local stone and wherever we’re from we know our home as the Granite City.

This May, we invite you to join us in celebrating everything granite – from its ancient geological origins and the industries which thrived on it, to the superb architecture we see every day. We want to give Aberdonians old and new a chance to talk about granite and hope to make the festival a regular event.

We have a full programme of talks, walks and events which offers something for everyone. We look forward to seeing you soon!'

Information about the programme of events can be found at the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum Website, www.aagm.co.uk

I am also struck that the image chosen to grace the front of the brochure is remarkably similar to a documentation shot from former Turner Prize winning artist Simon Starling's show at Tate St Ives, Cornwall. I didn't have time to catch this show before travelling north, even though I had a preview ticket, but was very interested to hear that Starling was continuing to explore the 'excavation and transformation of the material world', exemplified in the work

"The Long Ton", 2009, described as sculpture featuring two rough-cut white lumps of marble suspended in space. The larger of the two stones, an import from China weighing one ton, is counterbalanced by approximately 250 kg of Italian marble thanks to a 4:1 ratio pulley system that allows the two stones to sit in perfect equilibrium. On closer inspection it is clear that the two stones have exactly the same form, the Italian stone having been precision laser-cut to exactly the same, although reduced, specifications as the larger Chinese stone. Despite its long voyage to Europe, the Chinese marble has a similar market value to the European stone one-quarter its weight.

Simon Starling image from www.artcornwall.org

Dates for the diary

Good news at todays meeting at Fyfe Glenrock. Work on the first sphere will be starting almost immediately, and I have been asked to return next Thursday 28th April, ( conveniently the same day I have to be in Inverurie to meet with the Aberdeenshire Council Arts Development Officer now supporting the project) as the manager feels confident that the initial sphere will have been roughed out. My spirits are lifted although I have my fingers crossed that the dark grey Pitcaple stone will prove to have been a good choice.

Meantime, I am also working as an artist in quite a different manner, towards opening of a participative art exhibition at the Woodend Barn Arts Centre, Banchory, entitled the redsuit project which invites people improvise with a disposable bright red coverall in a place of their choice. The show opens on May 1st: Labour Day, associated with the colour red, which I understand started out as a campaign for an 8 hour working day. It seems slightly ironic that I am still tapping away at my keyboard at 10.14pm, preparing for this show.

Thanks to Aggregate Industries

I would like to say thankyou to Aggregate Industries, who currently work Tillyfourrie Quarry, for the donation of the stone to the project and for their assisatnce in selecting and preparing the blocks for removal. The project budget is quite tight and this has helped considerably.

Here is some information about Aggregate Industries lifted from their website www.aggregate.com

Aggregate Industries quarries, manufactures and supplies a wide range of heavy building materials to theconstruction industry.Through continued innovation and investment we have been certified The Responsible Source^TM offering a diverse portfolio of sustainable solutions to complement our traditional product offering. Operating across the UK, Channel Islands and Northern Europe, we are a member of the Holcim Group.

The Responsible Source
As a supplier and manufacturer of concrete and aggregate products we have been working for more than a decade to create sustainable solutions for all our core markets.

We have been addressing issues such as health and safety, quality control, ethical trading, carbon and water management, biodiversity, and social responsibility so that we can offer our customers truly sustainable solutions.

This work has culminated in us becoming the first company in the world to be certified to BES 6001, framework for responsible sourcing of construction materials, by the Building Research Establishment (BRE).

Commitment to quality and environment
We strive to provide high quality service, best value and are committed to continuous improvement. We aim to further develop our responsiveness to your needs year on year and all of our wholly owned businesses are certified to the quality and environmental management standards BS EN ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001.

In the queue

A combination of a viral infection, and other work commitments meant I wasn't able to get to the stone yard until Friday afternoon. The two corrennie blocks have arrived safely and are reassuringly close to the cutting sheds though I really daren't get excited. When I manage to track down the yard manager he is obviously still snowed under, and asks in seriousness if I had considered having the stones shaped in China, which could be more cost effective. While a trip to China to supervise the production has its attractions, the ethos from the start of the project has been to use local materials, expertise and labour. However on a positive note he had washed the stones down to check for cracks etc and thought they looked OK.

I manage to catch the plant manager, and after updating him on the situation agree to return on Monday to have a meeting with everyone involved to discuss the next steps.

Meantime a note has come through from the Aberdeenshire Arts Development Team, to advise me that as the Public Arts Officer based in the planning department who was supporting this project has moved on to another post, and will not be replaced, the project has been shifted from Planning to Arts. Meeting arranged in a couple of weeks time.

Rolling Stones

Well not exactly rolling, but at least on the move... this morning I had a call from the HIAB contractor to let me know they were in Tillyfourrie quarry and had successfully loaded the two blocks of Correnie granite.
This was a very welcome phone call and I heard later in the day that they were also delivered safely to Fyfe Glenrock yard. Tomorrow I will go to Oldmeldrum and hopefully discuss the next manoeuvres with the yard manager.
Meantime I seem to have picked up some NE fluey virus which is working its way through my system, currently in my inner ear, resulting in a feeling akin to seasickness. I hope its short lived.

Mean Speak and Do Well

After leaving the quarry on Friday I went to see Evelyn Munro, an Oldmeldrum resident and local history expert, who I had worked with on the restoration project of the Urquhart coat of arms which is on Oldmeldrum town hall, currently broken and painted in the wrong colours. Below are two images - the first on the left showing the coat of arms as it is now- and the second is a digital restoration I made based on the research findings of a small working party of interested local people.

Evelyn has been ill for a few months and the project has been on hold, however of you would like to find out more and/or get involved please visit the blog MEANSPEAKANDDOWELL.

Corrennie x 2

In the centre of the image above are the two blocks of Corrennie granite, awaiting collection with a HIAB truck, who I will try to arrange to go to the quarry in the next few days, before the machine operator goes on holiday. They will be delivered to Fyfe Glenrock yard, and will join the queue to get to the saws. It is now week three for me in Scotland and I am extremely mindful that time is slipping by.

Moving Mountains

On Friday I was given permission to enter Tillyfourrie quarry because a machine operator would be there for a few days, who could supervise my visit. As you can imagine there are enormous health and safety considerations.
After arriving I followed the sound of the machine to the top of the quarry where Gordon the operator was clawing away at the hillside with the arm of an enormous Cat machine. From this vantage point it was possible to see the tip of Bennachie in the distance.
He stopped and accompanied me while I selected two stones - which was more difficult than it might sound as many of the stones of suitable dimension had seams and cracks running through , some of which had been opened when the stone was blasted from the hillside. He used the digger to flip several stones to enable me to check all the faces for indicators of flaws, which was extremely helpful.
Gordon has accompanied many artists round this and other local quarries, including John Maine who worked on Place of Origin : a landscape art project connected to the quarry at Kemnay, which I understand spanned 10 years.

Having worked in these quarries about 30 years Gordon is extremely familiar with the site, and the wildlife which have found these environments ideal, pointing out the nest site of the resident peregrine falcon high on the face of the quarry bowl, which was not too happy about human intruders, and a beautiful trail of frogspawn in a mineral rich pool on the quarry floor.

Visualising possibilities.

Feeling determined not to give up on the Pitcaple stone here's an illustration of a possible placement for a 6oomm sphere, which would skim the major crack at the lower end of the block. This would involve two more saw cuts and, though I feel it looks promising there are no guarantees that the cuts would not reveal more issues.. . The main issue however is that the saws are fully booked...... I don't know how long the wait will be .....

Meantime I await a call to let me know when I can access Tillyfourrie quarry...still uncertain..so I have cancelled the HIAB operator I hoped could go in tomorrow morning.

From Tillyfourrie I hope to select select two stones - one as a back up for this 600 mm sphere and another for the 750mm sphere.

First cut

8am: a call from Harry, the yard manager at Fyfe Glennrock, to say that the Pitcaple stone was being put through the saw. The school holidays mean less road traffic so I managed to get to the yard to see the last section being cut.

When the end was removed our fears were confirmed - a fairly significant open crack at the side of the stone - which you can see above on the right, holding the water from the wash down.

This is not the healthiest start.

I feel pretty disappointed, (as does Harry, though he assures me that this not uncommon occurrence) and this is compounded by conversations with various managers who tell me that FGR currently has two large projects running simultaneously and almost every moment is accounted for. This will stretch over the next three months. It seems that FGR experience either a feast or a famine of orders and at the moment its the former.

The OMart work will have to be slotted in between the bigger jobs.

One of the problems for me is a limited window of time available, due to other commitments.

Negotiation required....

Manufacture begins!

I returned to the yard at Fyfe Glenrock in Oldmeldrum today, feeling anxious that time is slipping past and more than a little daunted by the task ahead. The yard is extremely busy, with a queue of work waiting to get access to the huge saw blades. The yard manager has kindly agreed to try and slot me in - and after looking at the stones I had delivered agreed to put the smallest to the saw. This is the piece of norite , a type of Gabbro rock : grey with quite sparkly crystals, which I selected from Pitcaple Quarry. In the image above, it is in the centre stack : a light brown colour - this is the crust, which will very probably be removed as we work, to reveal the grey stone.
Tomorrow, hopefully, one end will be sliced off and we will better be able to judge if some of the surface lines are indicators of more serious flaws which could cause the block to fracture during the making process. Even superficially perfect stones can contain internal cracks. I feel pretty nervous, but excited that we are at last tackling what many may consider the 'real work'.