Introduction
The Board of the George Melly Sculpture Appeal wish to appoint an artist via a design competition, to design and create a work of art to celebrate the life of the renowned jazz singer George Melly. The artwork will be sited on the Promenade in Brecon.
The George Melly Sculpture Appeal is a registered charity, no. 1130174.
Background
The George Melly Sculpture Appeal was set up in July 2008 at the 25th Anniversary of Brecon Jazz Festival. The aim is to commission a sculpture which commemorates George Melly’s relationship with Brecon, his role in the founding of the Jazz Festival and as President of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales and to provide a lasting legacy for the town.
George Melly was the first musician to be contracted by Brecon Jazz for the 1984 festival and remained a loyal and inspirational performer and supporter until his death. He and his wife Diana had a home in Scethrog just outside Brecon for nearly 30 years.
The inspiration for this tribute to George and his long association with Brecon and Brecon Jazz is the long-held dream of Liz Elston, who fittingly, was the instigator of the very first festival. She was Chairperson for the first ten years and has now formed the George Melly Sculpture Appeal committee to realise the dream.
The Site
The location selected for the artwork is a grassy bank between the Promenade and the river. The site can be seen from the bridge on the left hand side as you enter Brecon town from the south and the backdrop to this view is the dramatic Castle wall. The site is at the beginning of the Promenade which is a long pathway running along the river for about a kilometre and a half. The location overlooks the confluence of the River Usk and River Hondu and in close proximity to the site there is a bench, a lighting column and shrubbery.
Access to the site for installing a sculpture is not straightforward. Further along the Promenade there is an access point adjacent to a large car park. This is a narrow road/pathway which is only 2.7m wide at the narrowest point. There is a sharp right turn along this path before reaching the site. The selected artist will need to consider equipment required for installation during the design process to ensure that they will be able to bring the artwork to the site.
If the artist wishes to incorporate lighting into the design of the sculpture, it would be possible to connect with the nearby lighting column. There do not appear to be underground services to the site but this will need to be confirmed before the work is commissioned.
The Project
As well as being the President of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, George Melly was a contemporary art collector and was particularly interested in Surrealist art. The aim of the project is to commission an artwork which captures George Melly’s sense of fun, his mistress jazz, his interest in Surrealist art and his passion for fishing. The challenge will be to depict in static 3D form the outrageous larger-than-life character of George Melly, his unconventionality and exuberance. The artist will be expected to research George Melly and talk to people who knew him.
We are looking to commission a work of art of high quality which becomes an important landmark in Brecon; a sculpture that the residents of Brecon will be proud of (though it may spark some controversy!) and which will draw visitors to the town. We are not looking to commission a statue or figurative sculpture of George Melly.
The project can be split into three phases of work.
Phase 1:
The artist will be required to engage the community in the project through workshops and consultation meetings. It is envisaged that initial art workshops with school children and community groups will introduce people to the project and the issues to do with capturing a person’s life in an artwork and representing jazz through visual art. To stimulate debate about jazz and art and enliven the workshop events it is proposed that a jazz musician would be involved to play music and to explain how jazz music is constructed. These workshops would be facilitated by a local artist, who would support the selected artist with holding the workshops. (The selected artist would not be required to attend all the school workshops but to liaise with the local artist to develop a programme of workshops. The number of consultation meetings and workshops to be attended by the selected artist is to be negotiated.) Some of the output from these workshops would later be exhibited in Brecon.
As well as ‘hands on’ art workshops the artist would hold at least one public consultation meeting to introduce him/herself to the town, to show previous work and to discuss the possibilities of the George Melly commission.
Phase 2:
The second phase would be to finalise the initial design concept presented during the design competition and to create a maquette. The maquette will need to be durable and of exhibition quality to be displayed publicly in Brecon. Photographs of the maquette will be used to fundraise further for the project. There will be a launch event to present the maquette at which the artist may be required to make a presentation. We currently intend for the maquette to be displayed in the Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery within a display case. The artist will also need to provide detailed costings for implementing the artwork to include all costs, fees, materials, fabrication, delivery to site and installation.
Phase 3
The third phase is the commissioning phase when the artist will be contracted to implement the sculpture commission. The artist will also need to provide a maintenance schedule detailing the materials and finishes that have been used in the work and instructions on how the work should be cleaned and maintained.
Maintenance issues
During the design phase these points will need to be considered:
• the artwork should not have any costly ongoing maintenance requirements
• the artwork should be accessible for maintenance / replacement of component parts
• the artwork needs to be made of durable materials such as stone, bronze, steel or other materials that are weatherproof and most resistant to vandalism.
• Health and safety in terms of the design should be considered such as sharp edges and whether the sculpture could be climbed.
Professional Practice
In the event of manufacture by the artist she/he must demonstrate current and appropriate indemnity insurance relevant to the artist in person and to the object/s to be manufactured. Where it is anticipated that on-site manufacture or installation will be carried out by the artist in conjunction with the project team, adequate and appropriate public liability insurance must be in place. In the event of commissioning details of Product Indemnity will be required sufficient to provide the client with assurance on matters of liability and so that neither the client or contractor are exposed to undue risk on any element commissioned from the artist. The observation of CDM regulations is required where appropriate.
Timetable
We aim to short-list artists in late July and invite short-listed artists for a site-visit in the w/c 2nd August. We would then hope to view presentations of initial design concepts in the w/c 30th August. The workshop phase would occur in September and October, with a deadline of 31st October for completing a maquette. (This deadline is final and is a funding requirement). The implementation phase is envisaged to begin in Feb/March 2011 and completed in July/August 2011.
Procedure
This brief has been widely advertised and the Artist Selection Panel, consisting of Robert Macdonald, David Moore, Elizabeth Jeffreys and Mererid Velios, will short-list 3 artists. The short-listed artists will visit the proposed site in Brecon and will then develop a design proposal over a period of 4 weeks. Artists will be given background information about George Melly and the contact details of people who knew him that they can talk to about George Melly.
Each artist will present their concept design to the Artist Selection Panel who will award the commission to one artist. The design concept can be presented as either a sketch or as a 3D model. We do not require a fully costed proposal but are keen to see your initial response to the brief, the direction in which your design ideas have taken and to hear your explanation of the process you went through to reach your design proposal.
The selected artist will initially be contracted to undertake consultation meetings and workshops and to create a maquette and prepare detailed costings.
To Apply:
Please send examples of previous work as a pdf or powerpoint document on a CD. We also require a printed up to date CV and letter of application outlining your interest in the project. If the images on the powerpoint do not have captions, please provide a slide list describing the projects illustrated. A pdf or powerpoint presentation are preferred to individual jpgs, although these will be accepted. Email applications will be accepted but files should be no larger than 10MB. Send applications to: Celfwaith, 7 Pontfaen, Cardiff, CF23 7DU.
