The Making of "Wor Angel" - a Limited-Edition Fine Art Print
- Brian Blake
- Jun 20, 2022
- 4 min read
Angel of the North... a Brief Intro
The Angel of the North, erected on the outskirts of Gateshead in 1998 as a welcome to the North. Designed by Antony Gormley, the Angel stands 66 feet tall (20M) with a wingspan of 177 feet (54M) and is believed to be the world's largest free-standing angel structure in the world.
The Angel is made from Corten steel (also known as weathering steel) is instantly identifiable thanks to its rich, bright orange tones. Originally developed for building coal carriages in 1930s America, it is now one of the most stylish and durable metals on the market. Corten steel plate might look like it’s rusty, but thanks to clever manipulation in its processing, the outer oxidisation actually protects the steel from further corrosion, as well as giving it a unique, industrial look.
I know that some people (including locals) dislike the Angel. But for me, many locals and coach loads of people and other visitors, it's quite a celebrity.
Due to its proximity to the main road and rail line, it is estimated that 33 million people see the Angel every year, including those in the roughly 90,000 vehicles which pass each day.
The Challenge
With the Angel of the North being so accessible, I've visited quite a lot - both with and without my camera.
Getting photographs of the Angel is fairly easy (just search Google images and you'll see for yourself). But the main challenge for taking multiple images to produce the sort of artwork I produce at Fotos For Art is more difficult. There isn't really enough room to get images from far enough away, without using a fairly wide-angle lens. This then enhances distortion on the wings, in particular, making alignment difficult.
I also wanted to show the Angel in its environment, rather than largely against the sky.
Previous Visits
As mentioned earlier, I've visited many times before. Here are two 'Hi-Key' images from a visit after a fall of snow.
The Solution
The solution was to use a drone. This enabled me to get a bit of height above some of the surrounding trees. This placed the Angel well in its surroundings. The main problem now was getting the pathways to line up - you'll see from the images below, that these don't line up with each other at all well.
The Results
With the help of a drone and still a fair bit of work, I have been able to create two limited-edition Fine Art prints. Both are available at: https://www.fotosforart.co.uk/product-page/wor-angel-limited-edition-fine-art-print
A bit more about the Angel of the North
Prior to the construction of the Angel of the North, the most significant landmarks which signalled travellers' arrival into Tyneside, when travelling from the south, were the bridges that crossed the River Tyne. In 1990, Gateshead Council first conceived of a sculpture to act as a new landmark for the southern approach into Gateshead and Tyneside, standing near the A1 and A167 road interchange.
Mike White, the Assistant Director Arts at Gateshead Council from 1989–2000, stated that the intention was for the Angel of the North to act as a "millennial image that would be a marker and guardian for our town" The process to commission and deliver a sculpture was led by Gateshead Council's Art in Public Places panel, the Libraries & Arts and Planning & Engineering Departments, and Northern Arts – a regional subdivision of the Arts Council of Great Britain which existed from 1990–2002. The Council applied for £45,000 of funding from Northern Arts for the selection of an artist and the delivery of an initial design. Although this was the largest public art project the Council had planned to date, Gateshead had already undergone multiple regeneration projects. In the 1980s, the construction of Gateshead International Stadium and the Metro Centre signalled a step forward in urban regeneration, and in 1990 the Gateshead National Garden Festival and Riverside Sculpture Park marked the borough's emerging arts policy. The 1990s also saw the conception of other regional transformation projects including the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
The Council's Art in Public Places Panel met three times to decide upon a shortlist of artists to build the new sculpture. They were inspired by Antony Gormley's series of structures called The Case for an Angel which he began creating in 1989. After two years of looking for a suitable candidate, Gormley was ultimately selected. After originally claiming that he did not "do roundabout art", Gormley was inspired after visiting the proposed site of the sculpture, comparing it to a "megalithic burial chamber".
Planning permission for the sculpture was secured in 1995 and Gateshead Council acquired funding of £800,000. £584,000 came from the Arts Council England, £150,000 from the European Regional Development Fund, £45,000 from Northern Arts, plus private sponsorship. Momentum for the sculpture continued into 1996, when a 1:20 maquette of the Angel went on display in Shipley Gallery and Northern Arts won the Festival for UK Visual Arts Year. A two-year series of educational events were conducted with 30 schools and 1,400 children in the area who built their own small-scale versions of the Angel which later went on display in venues around Gateshead and in Sunderland.
Thanks for reading my blog all the way to the end. I truly wish you a very good day. Bye for now.
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