The installation of the Broughty Ferry Artworks is underway as the public realm scheme progresses. The first of the three corten totems is now in place.
The development of the project can be seen in a previous post about the artworks here. The idea behind the artworks was to to create a sense of place, highlighting some of the most interesting themes for each of the three locations. This one is based on local man Thomas Smith, who provided inspiration and expertise to the most famous of lighthouse builders in Scotland - Robert Stevenson.
Thomas served an apprenticeship as a metal worker in Dundee then went on to set up his own metalworking business in Edinburgh, a business which included lampmaking. He experimented with reflectors and was appointed as the first Chief Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1786.
Whilst employed as the engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses, Thomas Smith married Jean Lille Stevenson. He later entered into a partnership with Robert Stevenson in 1786. The combination of Thomas’s skills with lighting and the Stevenson’s skills of building and engineering were to provide the basis for the establishment of the Stevenson’s reputation for construction of lighthouses.
Broughty Ferry Public Artwork in Dundee.
Looking to the south banks of the River Tay opposite Broughty Ferry, two lighthouses can be seen on the shoreline - both designed and built under the guidance of Robert Stevenson in 1823, but further offshore is one of the Stevenson’s most impressive lighthouses - located on a rocky reef called the Bell Rock.
In 1807 work started on the Bell Rock Lighthouse - one of the most advanced feats of engineering ever attempted at that time, and one which propelled the Stevenson’s to fame across the UK.
The artwork is made using Corten steel, also known as weathering steel, and is designed with rust in mind. In fact it is the rust which protects the artwork from further rusting! The panels tell the story of place and are made using a process of direct printing onto aluminium and then coated and baked to provide a weather proof surface.
Detail of Corten laser cutting
The complex laser-cutting has been designed to both tell a story and to cast this story telling shadow onto the paved surface which will change as the sun moves.
As the story evolves the emergence of trains bring a new tale to tell.
October 1838 saw the opening of the Dundee to Arbroath Railway. This line still runs along the northern edge of the Broughty Ferry Local Nature Reserve and carries trains to Aberdeen.
Another now disused line, and part of the Reserve, once ran 17 miles to Forfar, passing through Barnhill, just north of the Reserve. This line opened on 14 November 1871, but lost its passenger service in January 1955 and goods (mainly farm produce and coal for home use) in October 1967. Known as the Forfar Direct Line, the previous link to Forfar being via Arbroath, this old track-bed is now a great retreat for many varieties of wildlife.
Corten laser cut artwork.
The project was a collaborative project with Dundee Council who provided expertise and support as well as installing the artworks into the space. The fabrication was done by our partners and long-time collaborators at IS Group Signs - but don’t be fooled by the “Signs” bit of their name - they are experts at handling complex projects both big and small and provided the engineering expertise for the realisation of the final artworks.