CORE SAMPLE ARTIST STATEMENT
by Julienne Dolphin Wilding

Concept

On my research visit to High Lodge Forest Park I went to Grimes Graves an extensive group of Neolithic flint mines. The mines are unique in England comprising over 300 pits and shafts many now in-filled. I was able to visit one of the mines, which is open to the public, and descend the shaft ladder to the bottom of the pit to see the entrances to the access tunnels. I found the whole experience of travelling through the earth intriguing and went back many times, as the substrata are quite visible from the ladder in the shaft. I later went to visit many quarries in Norfolk to study the very distinctive layers of soil distribution in this part of England.

This introduction to the story of the earth through my geological research was both fascinating and absorbing. I was struck by its vastness and at the same time its invisibility. We live on the earth’s surface but are mainly oblivious to what is below us. I felt strongly about bringing the Grimes Graves shaft up to the surface and a geological core sample was an obvious way of doing it.

There is a theme, which runs through all my public artwork and that is a ‘conspiracy to disconcert’. I wish to create illusion and deception in the landscape. The purpose of this conspiracy is to entice the park visitors to look closer, to investigate their surroundings more acutely, and to be more alert. I hope to achieve this by constructing an artwork that acts as a double take: a second look occasioned by surprise.

Stratigraphy of core sample

(As seen from the base)
Cretaceous period:
Soft chalk 180,000,000 years old
Glacial drifts and post ice age superficial deposits:
Flint layer in chalk rubble
Rough and smooth black flint in chalk sand matrix.
Wall stone flint in pipe clay.
Pale yellowish brown chalk sand, stony high level gravel.
Upper crust flint in strong brown sandy loam
Chalk flour and chalk-sand drift.
Toppings flint in pale yellowish brown sand.
Flint Stone hand axes
Deer skulls and antlers in pale yellowish brown loamy sand.
Brown slightly humus sands.
Strong brown sandy loam, rabbit burrows and roots.

Construction

Foundation: A ten-ton block of concrete.
Steel inner tube/mast 457mm diam.10mm thick 12 metres high welded onto base plate.
24 ‘mill stone rings’ mounted onto mast and bedded in with mortar joints.
Finished sculpture: 13m high, 11.5m visible. Diam.1m. Total weight 25 tons.

Sub contractors

Geological advisors: John Tomalin, Steve Bowman and Nigel Larkin May Gurney
Aggregate suppliers: Ian Findlater, May Gurney and Jim Norman, Frimstone Ltd
Metal work construction: Mick Lewis, Glenn Midson, Brian Scrivener, Amweld Engineering Ltd.
Foundation work: Robert Kybird, Kybird Builders.
Structural engineers: John Farrow, Andrew Firebrace Partnership.
Crane Operator: Anthony Underwood Blankley, Naivette Services Ltd
Vehicle mounted access platform: Craig Gowing, Rise Hire
Assistant: Anthony Fenwick.
Photography: Monika Zanolin