Detail View: SHIMMER: Heron Gateway

Title: 
Heron Gateway
Creation Date: 
1992
Dimensions: 
288 x 239 cm (Gate)
Image Date: 
1994
Period: 
20th century
Location: 
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Country: 
ENGLAND, UK
Material: 
wire - plastic coated
Display Creator: 
BELL, Andrew
Image ID: 
s005b
Description: 
Detail of heron above gate looking towards Rotherham across waste land.

Location: A former sewage works and sludge pond at Blackburn Meadows, off Meadow Bank Road. Google maps < https://goo.gl/maps/duRRt > .
Access to the site is difficult: take Psalters Lane, then Steel Street over the railway and past scrap yards until you reach a bridge over the canal giving access to Deadman's Hole Lane, where the Meadows begin. The area has been redeveloped as a nature sanctuary where Amanda Wray and Johnny White's 'Dragonfly and Damselfly' are also installed in one of the small lakes which have been created for wild life.

Description: A heron stands in rushes between smaller scaled smoking chimneys or cooling towers. The composition, seen in silhouette, forms an arch to a gateway to the reserve marked off by a ready-made wire fence. Looking east through the gate, from within the reserve at the time of installation, there was a view of a derelict industrial landscape and the Rotherham skyline. On our latest visit (November 2000) this view has been obscured by the recent erection of several industrial buildings.

Commission: Sheffield City Council and Blackburn Meadows Trust.

Comment: The piece is both beautiful and matter-of-fact. The nuts and bolts construction is as clear to read as the subject, the regeneration of derelict land. Installation of the piece was delayed for over a year as the ground had to be made safe from escaping gases. Unfortunately, as the site has been developed, the planned entrance to the nature reserve has been moved. When installed this arch would have formed the gateway to the Nature Reserve. Now it stands above a padlocked gate on a track descending to one side from the beginning of the Reserve and leading nowhere. Surely some thought should be given to re-siting a work of this quality to the current entrance near the canal; this would make the piece more more visible and give it a function again.

Rights: 
© Sheffield Hallam University
Permissions: 
For educational use only. This image may be used in print or digital materials provided that full acknowledgment is given, expressed as follows: " © < insert details from the 'Rights' field >. Photographed by < insert details from the 'Photographed by' field >."
Image Storage Location: 
http://helios.shu.ac.uk/00-3985.jpg
Related Information: 
Public art in Sheffield. For more information see < http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/ >.
Photographed by: 
Dave Ball
Creator: 
BELL Andrew
Creator Role: 
Sculptor. Ex-student at Sheffield Hallam University.
Culture Gender: 
Male.
Nationality: 
British.
Subject Heading: 
Public art -- England -- Sheffield
Subject Heading: 
Gates -- England -- Sheffield
Subject Heading: 
Sculpture -- England -- Sheffield
Subject Heading: 
Animals in art
History[2]/stEvt:action: 
converted
History[1]/stEvt:when: 
2015-02-18T10:35:13Z
History[1]/stEvt:instanceID: 
xmp.iid:A6C69D3544B8E411B83AF5F941796D2A
History[1]: 
type=Struct
History[3]/stEvt:when: 
2015-02-19T14:48:16Z
History[3]: 
type=Struct
History[3]/stEvt:changed: 
/
History[3]/stEvt:softwareAgent: 
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
format: 
image/jpeg
DocumentID: 
xmp.did:A6C69D3544B8E411B83AF5F941796D2A
MetadataDate: 
2015-02-19T14:48:16Z
History[1]/stEvt:softwareAgent: 
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
ModifyDate: 
2015-02-19T14:48:16Z
OriginalDocumentID: 
xmp.did:A6C69D3544B8E411B83AF5F941796D2A
History[1]/stEvt:action: 
created
ICCProfile: 
Nikon sRGB 4.0.0.3002
History[2]: 
type=Struct
CreateDate: 
2015-02-18T10:35:13Z
History[3]/stEvt:instanceID: 
xmp.iid:A7C69D3544B8E411B83AF5F941796D2A
History: 
type=Seq
History[2]/stEvt:parameters: 
from image/tiff to image/jpeg
CreatorTool: 
Nikon Scan 4.0.0 W
ColorMode: 
3
InstanceID: 
xmp.iid:A7C69D3544B8E411B83AF5F941796D2A
History[3]/stEvt:action: 
saved