A J Wells trip

Did you know that all the London Underground signs are made on the Isle of Wight? (well, most of them). This was one of many interesting things that we learned on our guided tour of the A J Wells factory in Newport. It was far bigger than I'd imagined, with160 people busily producing wood-burning stoves, signs and artworks - in fact almost anything that might be made from metal and enameled.

They seemed very open to experimenting with new techniques and even make their own enamel glazes by grinding up broken glass and adding various colouring materials. Although most of the production is on an industrial scale, they also often work with artists to create new pieces of work.

Below is a picture of a batch of signs coming out of one of the huge furnaces.



I'll look on the signs in a new light next time traveling on the Tube.

joy

Eve Jackson's poem 'Joy' has now been put up at the Freshwater Bay bus stop. This was the overall winner of the bus stop poems competition and is the last in a series of ten to be cast in bronze and installed at stops round the Island.

It was a bit of a struggle and my attempts to lay nine bricks on top of the pillar to make it tall enough made it look like a scale model of the Tower of Pisa. Wonky as it is though, it's now there and hopefully for a long time.

These three lucky people were the first to read it after installation, arriving as the quick-drying cement was still wet. I think the younger ones may not have understood much, but it seemed appropriate as the poem is all about children - and they did like feeling the raised text and drawings and were very patient as their mum read it out to them.

Here's the poem for you to read for yourselves. The numbers at the top are thought not to be original.

Mystery thatched vehicle

Can anyone explain this?

Poetree in East Cowes

Here's the latest poem to be installed by a bus stop. Written by Margaret Prior, it is dedicated to the umbrella tree (a large weeping ash?) beside which buses pull up in East Cowes. This tree has marks the epicentre of communal life in the town and the poem recounts the activities that can be observed from its arbour.



It wasn't easy to find a site where people could not slip, trip, bump into or fall headlong onto the bronze plaque, but thanks to the new owners of the Under The Umbrella Tree cafe, we were finally able to fit it up on a wall facing the tree and bus stop.

If you'd like to see it for yourself, hop on a bus number 4 or 5.

In defence of Bleak Down

Felicity Fair Thompson mounts a spirited defence of a beautiful,
rather lonely part of the island in her poem 'Bleak Down' which we have now set into the ground beside the bus stop Bleak Down Landfill Site. If you do catch the bus to this spot, you'll have plenty of time to study and meditate on the beauty of both the poem and the view as only two buses pass here each day.
Hopefully it will provide a few moments' rest and reflection for walkers making their way along the Worsley Trail too.

The Beast of Fishbourne

Take a look at this rather beautiful thing. It's about 3x2 cms and looks like polished metal.
My youngest son found it when we went beach-combing down along the shoreline at the end of Fishbourne Lane. We were looking for good skimming stones (there are loads of nice flat flints and slates there) and whatever else we could find when Jerry picked this up. At first I thought it was a bit of seaweed holdfast or a lump of old Sugarkelp until I held it and realised that it was stone. I stopped Jerry from hurling it into the Solent by giving a much nicer pebble and carefully pocketed the whatever-it-was. And, having scanned it in and sent a picture to expert palaeontologist Martin Munt at Dinosaur Isle, I 've been waiting keenly to learn what it might actually be. Well, it wasn't disappointing that's for sure! It is a 'scute', that's a piece of body armour, from a 35 million year-old crocodile called Diplocynodon!
How completely fantastic.

Basket Cases

The Arts Team asked local basket maker and artist Tim Johnson to give I2k staff an expert guide round the fabulous 'East Weaves West' exhibition at Quay Arts last week. This was an incredibly inspiring and rich exhibition showcasing Basketry from Japan and Britain and it has been received with great enthusiasm from gallery goers on the Island. A whole spectrum of basketry was on show, from the strong and functional to the decorative and fragile and all things in between. We wanted to look at the show in relation to the variety of work we do at the Trust. In particular we realised that the natural materials that are cleared in some of our conservation work could be channeled back into arts and making projects and that our fledgling 'scrapstore' we are developing should have a 'natural scrap' section too.

The picture to the left shows Danny and Ian modeling (Chinese and Dutch respectively) woven shoes. Warm, comfy and good for sliding across galleries apparently but very creaky.

Here Come the ABCs...

There's been plenty of activity outside our office over the past couple of weeks. As part of the No Barriers project, we've commissioned Island artists Aaron Fletcher and Nathan Holt to create a giant alphabet along the vast stretch of blue hoardings in Castle Street. Here are a few pics of work in progress - they've been busily painting the background and have just started on the huge lettering. Crocodiles, guitars, castles, dogs, beetles - what else can you see?

The boys have had fantastic feedback so far - one person said it made them feel safer, and another was spotted taking a photo of his car against the painted backdrop!

We hope to involve School and community groups to help with some of the decoration in the coming weeks. And the project might even have some musical elements - you'll just have to wait and see.

Watching paint dry


A & N excitedly open a tin of 'black' paint only to find that it's 'birch'!


View from the Scrapstore window over the barriers

Copnor Bridge Public Art

I have just discovered the video made by 3angle flims for Portsmouth City Council documenting the rebuilding of Copnor Bridge. Island 2000 worked with local communities and Eccleston George Public Artists to generate some fantastic new public art for the bridge. The video clip below gives some background to the project and some details of the work as it progressed. The bit up to 4:35 is mostly about the construction, so if you're pushed for time you could fast forward to then (but don't tell those lovely Highway Engineer chaps at PCC....)

Oh, and of course I should mention we can bring our talents to a bridge near you. Our two trading subsidiaries Island 2000 Ltd. (creative thinking, community development, public arts and anything else we do really) and Arc Environmental Consultants (environmental consultancy surprisingly enough) are always willing to share our unique talents, skills and unique approach with other parts of the UK (or indeed the world, especially sunny places at this time of the year :-) )

A Gift from the Slow Worms

Whilst out checking a fairly remote spot for its likely reptile habitats I came across this wonderful hat. It seemed to have been there for a long time. It has 'Happy Birthday' written across it and some candles on top and since it is nearly my birthday I took it as a sign to pick it up wear it.
I believe it may have been left there quite deliberately by a reptile community grateful for the time and effort we spend on their behalf. After all (and with apologies to Eddie Izzard) if bees can make honey why shouldn't slow worms make hats?
If I look quite emotional it's at the thought of animals with no hands struggling to make hats.