St Peter's Riverside Project
[Sunderland] 1991 to 2002
Spanning ten years, the St Peter's Riverside Project helped to transform the historic north bank of the river Wear in Sunderland into a lively riverside area linking local communities and Sunderland University to the city centre. From 1991 a team of local artists was present on site at St Peter's Riverside and from the outset local residents were involved in shaping the project.
"It's been amazing! I always believed it was right to work with the public when making public art and that collaborating with others was a good thing to do and could produce good art. This project has not only fulfilled those ambitions, it has surpassed them."
Colin Wilbourn
Sculptor Colin Wilbourn led a multidisciplinary team including Karl Fisher, who joined the project through a placement with a local training agency and worked as a sculptor, artist/blacksmith Craig Knowles and writer Chaz Brenchley.
In all, thirteen works link the north bank of the Wear, from the pier at the river mouth to the Wearmouth Bridge linking the north and south of the city. The works include:
- The Red House - the interior of an apparently ruined house, including furniture and personal belongings, carved from red sandstone.
- Pathways of Knowledge - a stone sculpture of a pile of books with inlaid glass mosaic, linking the monastery at Monkwearmouth to the modern university at St Peter's.
- Always Open Gates - a trompe l'oeil gateway.
- Shadows in another Light - a complex sculpture incorporating giant objects (a steel nut, a wooden bolt and concrete rivets) and culminating in a large mooring bollard topped with a 10m high steel tree.
- High Tide - a series of concrete hemispheres set in a crescent at the high water mark of the river mouth, exploring the interaction between nature and place.
Please see the Publications Page for a comprehensive brochure about the project.
