Bluebird Contained by Steve Geliot
Commemorating the lives of Engineers: Eric Arthur (1912-1998), Kenneth William (1921-2005) & Lewis Hunt Norris (1924-2009). Sculpture situated at Grassmere Meadow. Link to video of installation
Eric, Ken and Eric, Ken and Lew Norris were sons of the engineer in charge of the gasworks at Burgess Hill, Sussex.
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Ken started as an apprentice at the Armstrong Whitworth aircraft company at Whitley. He enrolled at Imperial College, London where he studied aeronautical engineering, while also taking business administration part-time at the London School of Economics. Lew served his apprenticeship with Harland and Wolff at its London docklands shipyard, building landing craft for D-Day. After the war he worked for Burmah Oil and later with their older brother Eric who was an accountant at Kine Engineering, where Donald Campbell was part-owner.
Artist’s Statement
Sculpture gives us the opportunity to physically touch the product of an artist’s imagination. Creating sculpture, particularly public sculpture, comes with many challenges.
The work has to be beautiful, but durable, site-specific and appropriate to its context. It has to satisfy the demands of the commissioner’s brief. It has to be made within tight budgets and strict timescales and be designed with safety in mind.
The thing I like most though, is that there is the opportunity to give people a sensual and cultural experience free of charge: something thought provoking and inspiring. It is the stuff of life, and through the beauty of physics it is a private encounter with the universe.
Steve Geliot
Steve studied in Brighton and Chelsea and has undertaken a huge array of public art commissions. He lives and works in Brighton. www.stevegeliot.com