'Lead Lines'

This piece is about the route up Hebden Gill onto Yarnbury, where lead mining took place from the 17th century up until 1927. The now grassed-over ruins in pleasant surroundings where many people enjoy hiking hide the dirty, violent and dangerous conditions that used to be there when it was mined for lead ore. In the same way, my subtle, natural coloured bronze pieces hide the intense heat required to cast them, and the repeated hammering required to force the lead into the groove that is cut through them. The end result is an aesthetically pleasing object in which the methods of production are as hidden as the conditions of the past history of the area I am making the work about is to the casual viewer.