Date: 24/07/07
Source: Wakefield Council
The Hepworth Wakefield, the city's exciting and vibrant new art gallery, is the inspiration for a new exhibition.
The work of four contemporary artists and five local schools goes on display at Wakefield Art Gallery next week.
It has been inspired by the new gallery that is currently being built on the Waterfront to house Wakefield's outstanding collection of works by Barbara Hepworth and other major 20th century British artists, including Anthony Caro, Ben Nicholson, LS Lowry and Henry Moore, who, like Barbara Hepworth, was born just a few miles from the proposed gallery site.
Cllr Denise Jeffery, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: "The building designed by David Chipperfield will be of national and international significance when it opens in 2009. I am pleased that it is already inspiring artists and adding to the cultural development of the district."
Building Bridges 2 runs from 28 July to 9 September 2007 and is the result of a year long project supported by The Prince of Wales Arts and Kids Foundation and Arts Council England.
Each school worked with an artist and was given a theme to work with that related to the new gallery project.
The artists and schools involved included:-
- Adele Jackson, who worked with St Mary's CE Primary Junior and Infant School. They were inspired by the designs for the new footbridge across the Calder. Adele also worked with Cathedral School on artwork prompted by the external shape of the new Hepworth Wakefield.
- Ruth Wurzburger and Wakefield City High School investigated the plans for the internal space of the new building.
- Tehmina Shah and young people from Sandal Magna Junior and Infant School took their inspiration from the landscape around the historic Wakefield Waterfront.
- Sculptor David Mayne and pupils from Methodist Junior, Infant and Nursery School were particularly inspired by the work of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.
The Hepworth Wakefield is due to open in 2009. The total cost of the building and the public garden around it is £24 million while the whole project, which includes a footbridge across the River Calder and access works to link The Hepworth Wakefield and the Waterfront to the city centre, will cost £29 million.
Funding for The Hepworth Wakefield has been secured from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Yorkshire Forward, English Partnerships and Wakefield Council.
"The Hepworth Wakefield is a major public sector contribution to the regeneration of the Waterfront and will be a fitting home to the city's outstanding collection of work by 20th century artists and it will put the city on the cultural map of Britain" said Cllr Jeffery.
