Mixed Media / Public Art

The block brief is to propose art work to fit into small niches on the exterior of the MidSteeple in the centre of Dumfries. We have made a site visit and taken photos. I am familiar with the district due to my interest in the Midsteeple Redevelopment project and because of my work as a visitor assistant at the Dumfries Museum and at Old Bridge House. Two summers ago I made repeated quick sketches of the edifice, based on old images at the museum on the hill.

The glazed niches are narrow (precise dimensions to come). The current displays of elongated strips of textile art lend themselves to the limitations of the display space.

Caerlaverlock Close

My idea is a series of ceramic tiles hanging on individual hooks or connected by fabric (woven in a nod to the long lost industry?). The tiles may be hand painted. The tiles may use the cyanotype process.

The images may be based on old photos/etchings of bits of the Dumfries Town Centre now gone: lost built-heritage that the surviving Midsteeple would have “known.” This could include a building known as the Pillars (replaced in the early 1800s), Caerlaverock Close (knocked down in the 1970s), and the Rainbow Stair (demolished to make way for Burtons opposite Midsteeple). Or…. it could be a combination of lost heritage and remaining heritage. In the latter case it could be images based on my own photos/drawings

Another idea could incorporate the style of the oldest map of London: it depicts the city in the mid-16th century. That is of course older than 1707 Midsteeple but it is a way to reimagine Dumfries of old