Wait and Play (2012-3)

Artefacts (completed and ongoing), solo exhibitions at Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool (January- March 2012), further solo exhibitions planned for 2012/13, some artefacts of the research exhibited prior to solo exhibition

My main research questions are ‘How may young people be portrayed in sculpture?’ and ‘How can sculpture function as a focal point for young people in urban settings?’ To generate new insights into these questions I undertook a period of international research that informed a permanent £35,000 outdoor sculpture entitled Just Wait For Me, supported by Arts Council England, MIRIAD and Wirral Council.

My research builds upon the socio-geographical investigations into uses of urban spaces by young people undertaken by Studio Urbane Landschaften, University of Hannover, and the contemporary allegorical sculptures of Stephan Balkenhol and Laura Ford. At the European Ceramic Work Centre in Herzogenbosch I explored new ceramic surfaces and glazes in a series of life-size figurative sculptures including Boy with parasol. Further research at The British School of Athens, supported by a Prince of Wales Bursary, examined sculptural poses of youth through study of original Greek statues.

I approached Wirral Council with the proposal of developing figurative sculptures that portrayed young people and operated as a meeting point within their redevelopment of Central Park in Wallasey. My aim was to deepen an exploration of the role of public art in the context of civic regeneration and youth provision. Just Wait For Me engaged 150 young people in it’s design process. To originate new poses, I staged a series of experimental workshops with local schools and youth groups, enabling young people to photograph each other in various poses including piggy-backing.

They developed some of these photographs into small wax maquettes that informed the final polychromatic aluminium Just Wait For Me, the first new sculpture in Central Park for over a hundred years. The research underpinning Just Wait For Me was further disseminated at Grundy Art Gallery (Blackpool, 2012), British Ceramic Biennial (Stoke-on-Trent, 2012) and Birkenhead Park Visitors’ Centre (2012).

Website: www.brigittejurack.de
Website: http://www.bsa.ac.uk/pages/staff_drill.php?cat_id=12&person_id=10445
Website: http://www.britishceramicsbiennial.com/plan-your-visit/whats-on/event/fresh/?mdid=94
Website: http://sundaymorning.ekwc.nl/# (Flash site, Alumni > Brigitte Jurack)
Website: http://www.grundyartgallery.com/programme/past/2012/68/
Website: http://primaryschoolteachersartforum.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/schools-exhibition-at-grundy.html
Newspaper and blog articles:
http://terryhayes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/just-wait-for-me.html
http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/10021726.Sculpture_aims_to_capture__playful_spirit__of_former_Wirral_art_college/
Looking through young eyes, Blackpool Gazette, PDF, 28.2.2012
Unveiling – Central Park, Wallasey Riverside Labour Party website, http://brigittejurack.tumblr.com/image/36507254914
Future for Hall site revealed, Wirral News, http://brigittejurack.tumblr.com/image/34757412523, 31.10.2012

The explorers

Waiting

Monument for Damian

Girl with fire

Boy with mouse

Drawing

Grundy Art Gallery workshop

Athens figures

Boy with parasol