Joanna's steel work on a massive scale

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), June 16, 2006

Byline: Tony Pogson ,

A massive sculpture by Huddersfield-based artist Joanna Mowbray has been chosen to give visitors their first impression of a major new pounds 5m business park in Northumberland.

The work Far And Beyond sits at the entrance to the Ashwood Business Park at North Seaton, near Ashington, north of Newcastle.

It is hoped that the site, which is in the very early days of being created, will eventually create over 1,000 jobs and play a key role in the continued regeneration of south-east Northumberland.

The work, which took Joanna two years from first contact by the regional development agency One NorthEast is said to have cost pounds 35,000.

The sculpture comes in two pieces in Cor-ten steel (weathering steel designed to withstand further rusting) giving a rust-brown finish which matches the North-East's most famous piece of sculpture, the Antony Gormley Angel Of The North.

The largest piece is 12ft tall, the shortest 9ft 4in and they have an estimated combined weight of about four tons.

When Joanna visited the site before starting work on the piece it was virtually empty. She said: "The sculpture is a response to the site, the surrounding open spaces and the proximity of the North Sea.

"The shape and positioning of the piece is representative of the movement of the sea and the boats."

One NorthEast director of regeneration and tourism, John Holmes, said: "The sculpture is a fantastic way to unveil Ashwood to the region. It makes a striking and exciting addition to the surrounding environment."

The Far And Away piece was produced and installed by Honley Bridge Fabrications.

Curiously, a similarly titled piece, Beyond And Within, was installed a little earlier at York University and there's a very interesting story to that.

The sculpture, originally funded with the aid of a Henry Moore bursary for a one-person in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, had been on show there for nine years, when the sculpture park, in the normal way, decided it was time to make way for newer works.

Joanna says Prof Andrew Webster on the very last day saw the piece, liked it and persuaded York University to make a bid for it.

When it came time to decide where to place it, Joanna made the decision - and the piece new sits, within the grounds of Heslington Hall, York, just outside the professor's office!

And incidentally, as well as being a Huddersfield artist well-known for producing large abstract forms, she is also a part-time professor of sculpture at Leeds University.