Man-made materials

Making art from man-made materials at Broad Oak Nature Reserve

This sculpture is made from various man-made materials - plastic gas piping, alluminium wire, drainage pipe and photographic film cartridges. The sculpture is based on the form of an orchid, and during the making process the artists had to continually think in terms of organic shapes rather than industrial shapes, which the materials might otherwise have suggested.

This sculpture represents both electrical insulators and organic shapes and was cut from 10 mm thick steel plate, mounted on steel poles and set in concrete. Its materials and synthetc colous suggest industrial intervention within its setting. It therefore asks questions about the nature of the structures and the materials they are made from.

Here we see the Insulator sculpture being made. It was cut by lazer beams and has been welded onto the steel pole. Its concrete base needs to be sufficiently heavy to keep the sculpture verticle, once in position. Click here to see teachers notes on this and other Broad Oak sculptures. (Use browser back button to return to this page)

This sculpture made by a group of children has both natural and man-made elements - all found on the site. At first glance nature and man-made materials are hard to tell apart, but when looked at closely the pieces of wire, hose pipe and plastic container can be seen.

This is the "Negative" version of the steel Insulator sculpture, and here the artist can be seen making some final preparations before the sculpture is set in woodland half a mile away from the shapes which have been cut from the steel plate. It shows the spaces from which the shapes have been cut and not the actual things themselves. Unlike the actual sculptures, which are coated with paint, it will be left in its natural state as untreated iron, so that the elements will have a different effect on it. It will rust and return to nature.