WORDS IN THE WORLD- text in public art -

This is a sampler of images showing some of the different ways text is used in Public Art settings. Some examples are the work of artists who have created their own words and some are an artist’s interpretation of a writer’s words, involving varying degrees of collaboration in the process.

 

It is an idiosyncratic collection, acquired over the past ten years, mainly in the North East, but also in various places abroad. Although they are mostly my own photographs, the work they depict can usually be traced on the internet. Searching in this way can also throw up interesting discoveries.

 

These pieces may spark your own ideas when considering materials, layout, font etc. and help you evolve your own aesthetic. Creating your own folder of images of work you love, or loathe, is an important part of building a practice in this field.

Linda France 2010

Origins: The Memorial

Lettering by Alec Peever

i.m. Gerard Manley Hopkins

Rupert Clamp, Newcastle

Gordon Young, Carlisle

Hadrian Bridge, Newcastle

Linda France & Bridget Jones

Liz Lochhead, Sofia

Looking Down

Katrina Porteous, Blyth

W.N.Herbert, Newcastle

Lawrence Weiner, Amsterdam

Looking Up

Charles Jencks, Dumfries

Alec Finlay

Shaun Pickard

Glass

Julia Darling & Cate Watkinson, Newcastle

Julia & Cate, South Shields

Linda France & Bridget Jones, Hexham

Wood

Ian Hamilton Finlay, Little Sparta

Metal

Linda France & Colin Wilbourn, Rockliffe Hall

Linda France & Craig Knowles, Sunderland

Philip Gross & Alec Peever

Jackie Hardy, Sunderland

Hangings

Alec Finlay, Gateshead

Ceramics

Francoise Schein, Paris

Urban Interventions

Stencil graffiti, Paris

Shakespeare & Co

KesselsKramer, Amsterdam

Cath Campbell & Miles Thurlow, Gateshead

Visual Artists who use Text in The Public Realm

Robert Indiana

Claes Oldenburg

Jenny Holzer

George Condo

A Poet’s Work sets the Agenda

W.N. Herbert at West Park, Darlington

Poetry incorporated into the fabric of the buildings and landscaping

Alphabet as Map & Metaphor

Linda France & Alec Peever, Rockliffe Hall

‘Look at what is there’

Ian Hamilton Finlay

APPENDIX

Image 1 – Alec Peever (text & lettering)Image 2 – Brussels CathedralImage 4 – Martin WenhamImage 10 – Alyson Hallett & Alec Peever, BathImage 22 – Linda France & Karl Fisher, SunderlandImage 29 – Hexham Embroiderer’s Guild, Hexham HospitalImage 31 – Frederic Baron & Claire Kito, Montmartre Images 33/34 – Artists unknownImage 35 – Robert Indiana, Chatsworth House