NY panels back in St Ives

At last I am pleased to announce that after an absence of almost two years, four panels from the installation ’ Where Their Footsteps left No Trace ‘ have at last arrived safely back from St Peter’s Church near Ground Zero, New York.  I’m told they had a profound effect on the many thousands who visited the church during that time. As mentioned in an earlier blog, the fifth panel ( 9/11 ) is now part of the permanent collection of the National September 11th Memorial Museum at the World Trade Centre.

As mentioned in my previous blog, Hurricane Sandy scuttled my plans to go across and repack the panels and get them from the church basement to the shippers in New Jersey so I had to leave it to them to organise it. More delays ensued as New York truckers will only pick up from the kerbside and not basements. As expected, only one thing would resolve this impasse - money ( lots of it! ). 

When the crate finally got to my shipping agents in Exeter the term trucker took on a whole new meaning when Dennis Oates, well know St Ives trucking and tour bus operator heard the story and said “we’ll get them back to his studio for him”  So a few days ago a 40 ton truck turned up at the end of our narrow road and did just that.  The story was well covered in the local press as Dennis had spent his childhood years living in the Battery building on the Island at St Ives which for twenty years and until recently was my studio  and where the panels were made. There’s more to the story which can be found on my website www.evilution-project.com    

I have now renamed the Coventry, Dresden and Hiroshima panels ‘The Reconciliation Triptych’ and the Auschwitz panel ‘Holocaust’. Talks are at present underway about their future and I hope to be able to tell you more in my next blog. 

Susan Rescorla visit

I’ve written much about 9/11 hero Rick Rescorla and his widow Susan who has become a family friend. During her recent visit to Cornwall she attended a ceremony at Launceston College where a newly built wing was named after her husband. She was accompanied by film executive and producer Martyn Auty who is planning a film about Rick’s life. Susan also visited Penpol School ( his childhood school) in Hayle where the children have established a wildlife garden in his honour.  Susan stayed with us for several days during which time she hosted a gathering of friends and family and visited the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Garden - a favourite spot during her visits with Rick.

The Move

My decision to quit the Battery studio on the Island after twenty years was prompted by a new direction of work on a much smaller scale ( more about that soon ), two winters of storm damage, regular rat invasions, vandalism and the last straw - arson!  So the decision was easy. Dealing with the accumulation of twenty years in that large building was a different matter.  If you’ve ever emptied a small garden shed you’ll know what I mean. It took over two months with many trips to the local dump. The good news is that during that time I had a custom made studio built at the rear of my house.  Although less than half the size of the previous one it is perfect with the bonus of being warm, dry and accessable at any time.