Art Students Meet Internationally Acclaimed Temenos Artist, Anish Kapoor
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A party of students and lecturers from Cleveland College of Art and Design, Middlesbrough College and Mima programme Modern Times were given exclusive access to Anish Kapoor – the man behind the landmark Temenos sculpture.
During a trip to see his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art, organised by Tees Valley Regeneration, Mr Kapoor spent time with the youngsters, answering their questions and passing on invaluable advice on his rise to the top of his profession.
Mr Kapoor, the only living artist to have his work displayed in the Royal Academy, said: “I was delighted to meet the students and hear their comments about the exhibition. I was very impressed by their interest and enthusiasm.”
One of the students who met Anish was 17-year-old Jonathan Sharpe from Stockton.
He said: “Whenever I have seen artists or art programmes on the television, they sometimes make me want to switch them off, but Anish was so interesting, down to earth and fascinating. I wanted to rush home and make sculptures."
Temenos, the £2.5m sculpture currently being built at Middlehaven in Middlesbrough, is the first of five proposed Tees Valley Giants which will be located in each borough of Tees Valley.
The project, backed by regional development agency One North East, the local authorities, the Homes and Communities Agency and the Arts Council, is the brainchild of Tees Valley Regeneration, which wanted to secure artwork of worldwide significance to put the area on the international map.
Sean Egan, Middlehaven project director, said: “Anish Kapoor is held in the highest regard. Not just amongst his peers, but across the board.
“We’ve been incredibly lucky to secure his services for the creation of Temenos, and for the students to be able to meet him and understand how he works is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them.
“It is important that Temenos and the Tees Valley Giants capture the enthusiasm and imagination of the artists of the future and this builds upon an earlier programme we undertook with over 500 primary school children in conjunction with Teesside University earlier this year.
“I’m sure what Anish has achieved will inspire them all to be successful and maybe this will be the initial inspiration for one of the students to become a world renowned artist in the future in their own right.”
Temenos is being built by Balfour Beatty at Middlehaven, alongside the £70m Middlesbrough College and Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium. It is due for completion in spring next year.
Sarah Malone, a lecturer at Middlesbrough College who attended the exhibition and the meet and greet with Anish, said: “It was really inspiring to see the exhibition and hear from the man himself as to the thinking behind his work.
“On a personal level I thought his work with the mirrors was truly innovating and exciting, testing everyday knowledge or what we know to be knowledge. I know my students learned an awful lot from the trip and Middlesbrough is definitely lucky to have secured his services for Temenos.”
Since Anish Kapoor’s exhibition opened at the Royal Academy of Art in London’s Piccadilly, over 300,000 people have seen it, making it one of the venue’s most successful ever shows.
Charlotte Wood, a student on Mima’s Modern Times programme, said: “Meeting an artist of Anish Kapoor’s stature was an amazing experience. I didn’t know what to expect from him but he was lovely and gave us a really good insight into what inspires him to success.”
Anish has teamed up with internationally renowned sculptor Cecil Balmond to bring Temenos to life. The pair will also work together on the remaining Tees Valley Giants, which are planned for creation over the next 15 to 20 years.
For more information contact Leanne English, Marketing Manager at Tees Valley Regeneration, on 01642 632013, 07725 602824 or email leanne.english@teesvalleyregeneration.co.uk.