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Elephant Under a Moroccan Edifice - Andrew Burton
Lintzford - Nick Lloyd
Lion - Andrew Burton
Reaching for the Stars - Kenneth Armitage
Spheres - Richard Cole
The DNA Spiral - Charles Jencks
The Flowering of the Lort Burn - Tom Grimsey
Tipping off the World - Andrew Burton
Untitled - David MacMillan
Vulcan - Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
Wor Jackie - Susanna Robinson
Location - Amethyst Rd, front of Victoria House
Materials - Bronze
Commissioned by - TWDC
The edifice appears to grow out of the elephant. Although the sculpture is quite small the viewer gets a real sense of the bulk of the elephant in comparison to the tower. The weight of the tower appears to sit heavily on the elephant as it walks purposefully forward.
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Location - On the Riverside walkway and Amethyst Road, opposite Sirius House
Materials - Limestone
Commissioned by - Newcastle Business Park
Nick Lloyd first showed Lintzford in the Gateshead Garden Festival. The work looks as if it is made up of the remains of a building. However the artist describes the work as portraying the countryside of Northumberland and Durham. Nick Lloyd continues to be a member of the Newcastle group of artists. The title refers to the Derwent Valley where the artist lived.
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Location - Amethyst Road, outside Mikasa House
Materials - Bronze
Commissioned by - Newcastle Business Park
The sculpture is a smaller than a life size lion, walking purposefully forwards. The lion’s mane is created using casts of drive chain. When creating sculptures of animals the artist sought to find objects to incorporate, which gave some sense of that animal. Lion was exhibited at the Gateshead Garden Festival before being placed in Newcastle Business Park.
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Location - Central Square, in the lane between the two buildings
Materials - Coloured Bronze
Commissioned by - Parabola Developments
Leeds born, Kenneth Armitage was one of the best known British Sculptors of the 20th Century. The piece at Central Square continued a new monumental theme in his work. Much of his later sculpture consisted of small works being massively expanded. Both Arms, a similar piece, is sited in Millennium Square, Leeds.
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Location - Walkway on riverside adjacent to Amethyst Road
Materials - Concrete with varying coloured aggregates
Commissioned by - TWDC
Cole has created a number of giant spheres made up of layers of concrete rings of varying sizes. The colours of the spheres vary as the aggregate used to make the concrete is exposed. There are spheres at three different locations along the walkway. Spheres was originally sited at the Gateshead Garden Festival.
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Location - Times Square
Materials - Steel
Commissioned by - International Centre for Life
A 4.5m tall spiral in galvanised steel representing the DNA double helix. The work strongly reflects the theme of the adjacent International Centre for Life.
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Location - Leazes Park
Materials - Terrazzo, ceramic, stainless steel, planting
Commissioned by - Newcastle City Council
The work is a direct response to the Lort Burn that flows beneath Leazes Park and through the lake. The work consists of a stream made from blue terazzo and planting. Stainless steel flowers are set into the paths where to mark where the burn flows. A playful splash-pool, situated at the top of the park suggests the source of the Lort Burn.
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Location - Weymouth House, Monarch Rd
Materials - Bronze
Commissioned by - TWDC
Unlike the companion piece Elephant under a Moroccan Edifice, Tipping off the World shows an elephant, which rather than being oppressed is ridding itself of its burden. Like Burton’s Lion, sited close by, the elephant surface is embellished with imprints, which appear as if manmade objects have been pushed into or cast from to make the surface.
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Location - On Riverside Walkway, off Amethyst Rd
Materials - Painted Steel
Commissioned by - Tyne and Wear Development Corporation (TWDC)
The red painted open steel forms, which individually are very precise and angular, combine to form a gracefully flowing shape. The form rises and falls in a rhythmic waveform. The work is one of the pieces bought or commissioned for the Gateshead Garden Festival, and then given a permanent home in Newcastle Business Park.
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Location - Central Square, to the rear of Central Station
Materials - Bronze
Commissioned by - Parabola Estates
Paolozzi has produced a series of works around the robotic man machine theme. One of the latest in this series, it takes as its subject Vulcan, the God of the forge, who was ugly in appearance but created things of beauty and weapons of war. The subject is appropriate to the location with the proximity of Robert Stephenson’s locomotive workshop in South Street.
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Current position 1999
Location - Corporation Street at junction with St James’ Boulevard Materials - Bronze
Commissioned by - Evening Chronicle
A depiction of the great man in the act of kicking a ball. The work has had a chequered history with several thefts of the ball leading to relocation to its current position. When it was moved another statue of Jackie was occupying the site close by St James’ Park. Wor Jackie represents an early example of the growing fashion for monuments to great footballers throughout the UK.
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