“The Angel of the South” - A Proposed Public Art Horse Sculpture in Kent

“The Angel of the South” is a proposed public art sculpture of a horse to be built at Ebbsfleet in north Kent, England, to be ready in time for the 2012 London Olympics. A figure of a white thoroughbred horse would be depicted standing on its four hooves. At 33 times life-size, it would stand at about 50m, as tall as “Nelson’s Column” and over double the height of the “Angel of the North” sculpture by Antony Gormley in Gateshead.

As Part of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project, the idea of a white horse came from the Turner Prize winning artist Mark Wallinger. It was accepted on 10 February 2009 over competing designs presented by artists including Richard Deacon and Daniel Buren. “The Angel of the South” was originally planned to be a counterpart of Gormley’s “Angel of the North.” It was also required to be observable from at least 20 miles away and be twice the width and height of the Angel of the North. The title, “Angel of the South”, would be appropriate, as Ebbsfleet is the southern gateway to London. The site of the sculpture is at Springhead Park, Swanscombe, close to the Ebbsfleet International Eurostar rail station. “The Angel of the South” would represent north Kent’s regeneration, as well as London’s growth towards the east.

“The Invicta,” the motto of Kent, is a prancing horse, and though a proposal of a prancing horse submitted by the Kent County Council was rejected, Wallinger’s horse will remind observers of Kent’s and England’s association with the white horse. Incidentally, the model of the proposed white horse sculpture from Wallinger was modeled on the artist’s own racehorse, Riviera Red. This concept from the artistic mind of Mark Wallinger would be a striking and representative masterpiece of England.

The author of this blog works with Artists’ Blank Canvas who sell premium Canvases for art constructed with kiln dried stretcher bars and pre-primed 100% cotton canvas.

The Singing Ringing Tree: A Futuristic Art Sculpture

Appearing like an artist’s imaginative rendering on the blank canvas of nature, the “Singing Ringing Tree” is a futuristic art sculpture in England. Set in the Pennine mountain range in Lancashire, overlooking Burnley, the project is one of four sculptures that are part of the Panopticons project of the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network (ELEAN), and funded by organisations including the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Lancashire Economic Partnership.

Not only do the steel pipes that make up the sculpture look futuristic and like the result of a berserk brush on an artists’ canvas, they also produce sound in the wind. The sculpture is therefore named after the East German children’s film of 1957, “The Singing Ringing Tree.” The 3m tall sculpture made from galvanised steel is designed by the London-based firm Tonkin Liu’s architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu with assistance from Jane Wernick Associates. The sound produced covers many octaves and is a penetrating and mildly discordant choral noise. The variation in the noise is a result of the interaction of the wind with the structure.

Designing a musical sculpture posed quite a few challenges as it was the first of its kind attempted by Tonkin Liu. The site for which Tonkin Liu submitted the proposal offers a panoramic view and, in extreme cases, experiences winds blowing at speeds reaching 160km/hr. This sparked in the designers a desire to create something striking and musical. Costing £60,000 to build, the “Singing Ringing Tree” was awarded the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2007. This futuristic art sculpture, looking fresh out the blank canvas of an artist’s imagination, is a perfect symbol of Lancashire’s renaissance, as the Panopticons project was intended to be.

B of the Bang: A Public Art Project in Manchester

Thomas Heatherwick’s brilliant artistic imagination conjured up B of the Bang, a public art project in Manchester, leaning more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and depicting sparks flying from a core. But more down-to-earth structural and safety issues concerning the artwork have forced the Manchester City Council to decide to dismantle the structure and store it in order to assemble and install it again at an alternate site (possibly the Sport city location), if a feasible option for installation exists.

B of the Bang is a sculpture commissioned by the City of Manchester to celebrate the success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in the city. The design for the sculpture submitted by Thomas Heatherwick was approved and construction due to complete in 2003. However, the engineering challenges associated with the design delayed the official unveiling until 12 January 2005. Built by Thomas Heatherwick Studio, Westbury Structures, Flint and Neill and Packman Lucas, it also exceeded the budget. Ultimately costing £1.42m, the tall and massive sculpture was named after a quotation of Linford Christie, British sprinter, who said that he started running in a race not at the ‘bang’ of the pistol but at the ‘b’ of the ‘bang’.

Built of Weathering Steel, the sculpture originally consisted of 180 tapered slender pikes branching out from the core and is 20 stories high, inclined at a 30-degree angle. Standing 184 feet (56m) tall, it is taller than the Angel of The North in Gateshead. However, one of its spikes fell off six days before B of the Bang’s unveiling in January 2005. Further structural issues and safety doubts resulted in 9 of its spikes removed for testing for signs of wear.

Dismantling has begun in April 2009, following an out-of-court settlement in which Thomas Heatherwick Studio Ltd paid the Manchester City Council £1.7m in damages. The distinctive public art sculpture will eventually disappear from the Manchester skyline until plans are laid to install it again.

Artists Blank Canvas sells Art Canvas made from 100% cotton canvas mounted on kiln dried fir wood stretcher bars. The canvases are in two different depths; 19mm Deep Canvases and 38mm Deep Edge Canvases.

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How to Make a Canvas – Building a Stretched Canvas

Purchasing primed stretched canvas saves a lot of hassles, as it enables you to start painting right away. But when you buy an unstretched canvas on a roll you have the most important task by stretching it over stretcher bars to make a canvas. Building a canvas can sometimes be the only way of obtaining stretched canvases to the exact size required. It involves the following steps:

Stretcher Bars

First, you need to get yourself some good quality stretcher bars. Some of the stretcher bars available in the market are of the gallery wrap-style, and range from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches in thickness. They enable the canvas to be wrapped around them in order for the painting to be hung without a frame. Modern stretcher bars have mortise and tenon joints at their ends allowing the constructed canvas frame to be adjustable with the use of tightening wedge keys.

As a cheaper alternative you could make simple stretcher bars from soft-wood timber bought from a hardware store. After cutting the timber to the desired lengths, screw and glue the pieces together to make a canvas frame. Ensuring the frame is at right angles, use sash clamps to hold the stretcher in place whilst the glue sets.

Precise Stapling Required

The next step involves stapling the sides of the canvas to the stretcher bars, leaving 3 to 4 inches of the canvas to overhang past the edges of the bars. A center staple on each of the four sides should help the canvas remain secured to the frame when you begin to stretch it. Pull the canvas around the bars and staple all the corners below the bars. Flatten the sides and pinch any excess canvas. For more a detailed description of stapling a canvas, read the following article on Restretching a Canvas.

Tighten the Canvas if Necessary

You may need to further tighten your new Stretched Canvas; you can spray a small amount of water on the back and iron it. Sprinkling or applying hot water with cloth would also tighten the canvas as the hot water dries up. You may also want to learn How to Tighten a Canvas with tightening keys. Your Stretched Canvas is now ready to be primed, painted on and to be hung.

Restretching a Painting

Restretching a painting is a task that requires a reasonable amount of skill and planning. If the canvas is only slightly loose one of the two following options of tightening a canvas may be considered first.

A slightly loose or sagging painting on a Stretched Art Canvas can usually be tightened with the help of bits of wood called canvas tightening keys which are usually supplied with stretched canvas. The keys only need to be wedged into the openings in the corners of the stretcher bars to make the canvas tighter and firmer. Spraying or applying hot water with a sponge to the back of the canvas would also make it tighter. While these methods usually provide good results, canvases sometimes tend to become too loose for these techniques to work. In this case you’d have to re-stretch the canvas.


Points to Consider Regarding Restretching a Painting

Canvases are generally re-stretchable on their original frame. However, you might sometimes have to re-stretch the painting on a smaller frame if there isn’t enough excess canvas left. A smaller stretcher bar frame may be required for the purpose, which may not produce a desirable appearance when displayed. Most stretched canvases though, come with excess canvas that would help restretching on the original frame.

The tools needed for restretching a painting are:

• A flat-head screwdriver
• A heavy duty staple gun and staples
• A pair of canvas pliers
• A small hammer (sometimes needed)


Removing the Canvas from the Frame

Restretching a canvas involves firstly removing the canvas from the frame. With the screwdriver, Lever-up the staples at the rear of the canvas. Once all of the staples are removed the canvas can be separated from the frame.


Stretching the Canvas onto the Frame

Place the canvas material on a large work top or on the floor with the painted side down and carefully position the stretcher frame on top making sure the beveled edge is against the back side of the canvas. To check the position of the stretcher frame, briefly pull the canvas up over the edges of the frame one side at a time and reposition the frame slightly if necessary.

Once the frame is in the correct position its time to staple the canvas back onto the frame. Starting midway along the stretcher bar on one side, grab the canvas with the canvas pliers and gently pull the canvas fairly tight and put in the first staple. Working 2 inches either side of the first staple pull the canvas tight with the pliers and put in another staple. You should now have 3 staples in one side of the canvas 2 inches apart. Depending on the quality of the stapler and the hardness of the wood in the stretcher bars, if the staples which you have put in the back of the stretcher frame are slightly raised, tap them in gently with a hammer until they are fully in.

Working on the opposite stretcher bar to the one you have just stapled, repeat the process putting in 3 staples stating form the middle of the stretcher bar, but this time you can pull the canvas tighter with the pliers as you work. Repeat the process again on the two remaining sides placing 3 staples in each side again.

Working along each side, pulling the canvas tightly with the pliers put in staples approximately 2 inches apart all the way along to each corner. If you are stretching a large canvas don’t do all of one side in one go. Instead put in 2 staples and alternate the side you work on. At each corner, neatly fold the edge of the canvas and put in a staple over the folded canvas.

Restretching a painting on stretched canvas is an important task that demands careful attention and precision, especially when it involves finished artwork. But the results of the effort taken are clear for all to see.

Tightening a Loose Artists’ Canvas Using Canvas Tightening Keys

If your art canvas is beginning to sag over its frame, tighten it up and make it stiff with the canvas tightening keys.

Canvas keys usually come with stretched canvases; they serve the purpose of tightening a canvas if and when it sags on the stretcher. Canvas keys are the 8 little wedges of wood or plastic that are either available in a packet when you buy the canvas, or are fixed already into the corners of the canvas frame or the stretcher bars. If they’re not already fixed to the edges, all you need to do is insert them into the slots provided in the corners of the stretcher bars if your canvas becomes loose.

Two canvas keys should be slotted into each corner of the canvas. Slot them tight and wedge them deep into the holes provided making sure the same amount of pressure is applied for each of the pairs of keys in each corner to prevent the stretched canvas form buckling. A small hammer can be used to gently tap in the keys, but be careful not to split the stretcher. This Expands the stretcher bars a little and makes the canvas rigid.

You can also buy artists’ canvases that are already tight and don’t require keys to be wedged in. These canvases don’t come with the keys and also don’t have any holes in the corners to slot them in. It must be ensured that these canvases are tight enough when purchased. If you’re making stretcher bars for the unprimed canvas you’ve bought use the keys to tighten the canvas only if you find it necessary after priming it, this is because the priming process will tighten the blank canvas.

Tightening a loose artists’ canvas using the tightening keys can help you concentrate more on the painting you are working on, without worrying if the canvas would sag. Your finished painting can also be mounted on the wall and displayed without the canvas appearing loose. These tiny pieces of wood or plastic can make all the difference in making your canvas and your painting look great.

What are the Variations of Stretched Canvas Available for Artists?

Stretched canvas is the preferred choice for artists. Some of the variations of stretched canvas available for artists are the standard depth 19mm, the deep edge 38mm canvas, and the round edge verities such as in the Loxley Dynamic range. Other shapes in which artists’ canvases are available include round, oval, triangle and hexagon.

Loxley Dynamic Rounded Edge Canvases
The Loxley Dynamic canvases are made using unique stretcher bars that give the canvas smooth and rounded edges. They feature similar depth to the chunky canvas and are double acrylic primed, ideal for painting with all kinds of oil and acrylic paints. Loxley Dynamic canvases are available in sizes of 12 x 10’’, 12 x 12”, 16 x 12”, 20 x 8”, 20 x 16”, and 24 x 18”, in either a pack of 2 or a box of 20.

Fredrix Float Canvases
Fredrix offers some of the widest variations of stretched canvas available. The Fredrix Float Canvas is designed using angled stretcher bars that create a floating effect when your painting is hung on the wall, enhancing the appearance of your work. The Fredrix Float Canvas is an archival quality canvas double-primed with acrylic. Oils, acrylics and alkyds can be used to paint on them. Some of the other stretched canvas varieties offered by Fredrix include the Red Label, Blue Label, Green Label and the Gallerywrap.

Fredrix canvases are available in many variations including Oil Primed Extra Fine, Universal Primed Fine Grain and Universal Primed Medium Grain. These canvases can be used for painting with water-soluble or traditional oil paints, acrylics and alkyds.

A Versatile Painting Medium
Different variations of stretched canvases are available for artists, depending on their skill levels, tastes and the kind of painting they wish to work on. Stretched art canvas is a unique medium that brings out the true artistic prowess of any painter.