Brendan Jamison Sculpture

ART ON THE SEAFRONT - LIFE IN BANGOR IS SWEET! WITH BRENDAN JAMISON

18th August to 14 September 2011

North Down Borough Council Arts Section is delighted to announce that the next series of work in its Art on the Seafront project is a very special collaboration with Bangor native Brendan Jamison, the internationally acclaimed sculptor. Gaining worldwide attention for his work in various unusual media, over the past six months the artist has been working on a very special commission for his home Borough - a sculpture of Bangor Castle Town Hall built entirely from sugar cubes! In Jamison's model the distinctive clock tower hands point to 'eight minutes to seven', or 18:52 in the 24-hour clock, a reference to the year the gigantic mansion house was built by the Ward family in the Elizabethan Revival style.

Jamison comes to North Down Borough Council straight from two recent shows. The first, in the Dickon Hall Gallery, sees his largest pieces from the Helen's Tower series on display until the 2nd September. And the second, in the Towner Museum of Contemporary Art in Eastbourne, features a five metre high sugar cube sculpture, 'Tower', which is the largest sugar cube sculpture ever created in the world. Continuing until 18th September, 'Tower' has taken three and a half years and a quarter of a million sugar cubes to complete.

The opportunity to work with Brendan Jamison has been a very special privilege for North Down Borough Council, and as the light glints on the sugar of the sculpture, it casts Bangor Town Hall in a magical, fairytale light that will charm and please young and old alike.

Jamison will be in residence in the Long Gallery at North Down Museum from 22nd - 26th August co-ordinating free sugar cube building workshops for the public to enjoy sculpting in an unusual material. The Town Hall commission forms part of an ongoing art project, Art on the Seafront, and the piece will be accompanied by a series of still photographs depicting the progress of the work on hoardings at Queen's Parade in Bangor Town Centre, as well as a time lapse video which will be shown in a vacant shop unit on High Street, also in Bangor.

The exhibition will be on display in the Long Gallery until 14th September. Museum opening times: 10am to 4:30pm (Tuesday to Saturday) and 2pm to 4:30pm (Sunday). Throughout August only, the Museum is open on Mondays from 10am to 4:30pm

The large-scale outdoor photographs on Queen's Parade will be officially opened by the Mayor of North Down James McKerrow at 11am on Tuesday 6th September 2011. A drinks reception will follow at the North Down Museum, Town Hall, The Castle, Bangor, BT20 4BT