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Public sculpture commission 
St David's 2, Cardiff

Four Friezes

 

the commission
  
the site

A large shopping mall within the St David’s 2 development in 

The St David's 2 Partnership commissioned a number of artworks
for this new development conceived to enhance the existing
shopping central and city living in Cardiff

 

  
 

the brief

To create four 9m x 800mm plaster friezes to be installed around an overhead circular bulkhead, lit from a glass dome above.

The design should make reference to the history and heritage of Cardiff and to the medieval site on which St David's 2 is constructed.

 
 

the concept

Three of the four designs were inspired by relief sculptures on Cardiff City Hall and the Law Courts; In 1900 sculptors were commissioned to create a series of reliefs to symbolise the city’s history and status as an industrial port with global reach. (see images below)

I chose various motifs from these historic friezes but in contrast to those sculptto the surface and I cast from real life objects.

In the 4th frieze, the gloves and rope make reference to Cardiff's medieval history; the ancient guilds of the Cordwainers and Glovers were once established on the site of St David's Two.

The friezes are cast in Jesmonite - an off-white , fine concrete.

  
 
 
installation date  April 2009
  
     

 

The reliefs at Cardiff City Hall and the Law Courts which inspired the Friezes 

                           
 
                              
 
                              
 
                                    

                             The St David's 2 Friezes

 
                   Studio: work in progress
                Showing first stage plaster casts and silicone moulds 
                for final cast friezes.
                The motifs were created by taking impressions of real-life 
                objects which were then enlarged through a mouldmaking
                process made possible by new polymer technology which 
                allows an exact to-scale expansion of the original object.
 
                               
                           
                     
 
                             
                                       
                                    
    At fabricators:  casts made from silicone positives   
   (final cast material: Jesmonite)
 
                                     
 

Below, ideas for the friezes at the early stages;
casts made to show the concept to the St Davids Partnership team who commissioned the sculpture
           details showing indentation of motifs 
                  
 

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