image © steve messam 2009 from an original engraving in the Cumbria Archive, Kendal Library

Fleur de Sel

Ullswater, Glenridding, Cumbria. UK
3rd - 6th September 2009

You are cordially invited by the artists Hannah Stewart and Steve Messam to preview ‘Fleur de Sel’ - an installation on Ullswater, the Lake District, UK.
3rd September 2009 from 11am - 12.30pm
Jenkin's Field (next to Ullswater Steamer Pier), Glenridding, Cumbria.

Fleur de Sel will officially be launched by Richard Leafe, Chief Executive, the Lake District National Park Authority

Light refreshments will be served.

Boats will be available to see the artwork from the water .

R.S.V.P. to:
Sandra Wood
swood@cumbriatourism.org
01539 825006

 
Fleur de Sel:


Fleur de Sel is an installation of large pure white forms floating on the water of Ullswater in the Lake District, created by rural artistsSteve Messam and Hannah Stewart. The title, Fleur de Sel, reflects the delicate light salt crystals, which can be skimmed off the surface of seawater and references Venice’s earliest industry. Each form is made from silk and lace parasols and are in various stages of apparent decay. The line of forms creates a visual and theoretical line through the heart of the Lake District to Venice where the piece was premiered at the Venice Biennale.
The forms are inspired by a very English view of Venice - that of the Grand Tour where the parasol becomes an icon of the need to protect the delicate English complexion from the sun and an important marker of cultural identity. Venice and Cumbria share a number of points of community - their role in the birth of ‘tourism’ and their association with water and its industries.
Victorian art and architecture critic John Ruskin lived at Brantwood in the Lake District for many years. During that time he made numerous trips to Venice - the subject of his seminal work ‘The Stones of Venice’. In it Ruskin is inspired not only by the architecture of Venice, but also in the way that it decays. It is this beauty in decay which Fleur de Sel celebrates - from an almost solid ball of pure white parasols through a series of states of decay where the forms take on more flower-like appearances.
The piece can also be seen as a metaphor for the preservation of its environments - salt being one of the earliest forms of preservation. Both the Lake District and Venice are delicate balances between tourism and preservation with similar tensions between them.
Fleur de Sel celebrates 60 years of the National Parks, challenging conceptions around design and architecture in this culturally significant landscape and highlights the role that local art and culture have played in the preservation and evolution of the environment for future generations.

For more details see: www.golakes.co.uk/fleurdesel

 

Location: Jenkin's Field
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