A TEESDALE artist is putting the finishing touches to a massive outdoor artwork which will be seen in the upper dale this month.
Internationally renowned landscape artist Steve Messam, who is based in Middleton-in-Teesdale, has been commissioned by The North Pennines AONB Partnership to produce Hush on an old lead mining site near Bowlees.
He will fill a gouge, known as a hush, in the fellside with about 5km of recyclable saffron yellow fabric forming about 600 sails.
Visitors will be able to view the piece from above, as well as explore it from the ground.
Mr Messam said: “The outdoor installation has been inspired by the geology, mining history and landscape of the area. Hush will give a dramatic emphasis to the landscape created when miners worked the hillside by hand to expose a mineral vein, then flushed the area with water to further reveal the geological riches below.”
Mr Messam’s work will transform an area known as Bales Hush for 17 days, between July 19 and August 4.
The artwork is designed to be eco-friendly. Mr Messam said: “We are using polypropylene, a water resistant, colour-fast, non-woven textile which does not shed fibres so avoids polluting the environment with plastics.
“Polypropylene is easily recyclable and uses less water and energy in the recycling process than paper.”
When the installation is taken down it will all be sent to a plant in Preston where it will be recycled.
It has taken Mr Messam and his two assistants four days in Newbiggin Parish Hall to thread more than 600 flags onto their support ropes. When this is done they will be taken to the hush and put into place. Mr Messam said: “When they are all in place the flags will provide a visual spectacle that will come alive in the wind. The change of colours will be fantastic and because it is immersive, people will be able to view it from above and below.”
Mr Messam has two other artworks on show – in Swansea and Denmark.
Chris Woodley-Stewart, director of the North Pennines AONB Partnership, said: “We know that art in the landscape helps people engage with and understand their surroundings, and this piece will help tell a story of the North Pennines’ lead mining past and also of the landscape as we see it now. We’re grateful to Barry Iceton, who farms this land, and to Raby Estate, for how helpful they’ve been to us in developing this work with Steve.”
Information on how to see Hush, starting from the AONB Partnership’s Bowlees Visitor Centre, will be published on the North Pennines AONB Partnership’s social media channels and on www.northp
ennines.org.uk/hush
