'Art on the Seafront' features a series of 20 large-scale billboard images documenting the entire construction process of Brendan Jamison's sugar cube sculpture of Bangor Castle Town Hall. The 100 metre long stretch of photographs rejuvenates Bangor Town Centre's empty space at Queen's Parade redevelopment site. A time-lapse video installation of the construction is also on display at 124 High Street in a vacant shop. Deputy Mayor of North Down Alan Leslie launched the exhibition on Tuesday 6 September at Queen's Parade redevelopment site. Billboard images by Multi-media Officer

Gary McCormick.

The Art on the Seafront project, now in its 9th year, was initiated by North Down Borough Council’s Art Section. Each year Art on the Seafront utilises diverse external locations including vacant shop fronts, billboards, adshel bus shelters and advertising mesh to bring visual art out of the gallery space and into the public realm, giving people who may not normally attend exhibitions an opportunity

to view visual art. The projects revitalises vacant spaces and derelict buildings in Bangor Town centre.

Commissioned by North Down Borough Council, Jamison's sugar cube sculpture of Bangor Castle Town Hall was on display in the North Down Museum from 14th August to 14th September 2011 before moving to its permanent home in the Town Hall reception. Designed by architect William Burn, the original Elizabethan-revival mansion was built in 1852 as a family home for Robert Edward Ward. This year is signified in Jamison's model through the

hands in the clock tower pointing to 'eight minutes to seven' which, in the 24 hour clock, is 18:52.

My sincere thanks to all the staff at North Down Borough Council, the friendliest and most professional

team I have ever had the pleasure of working with: Gail Prentice, Wendy Williams, Miriam Crozier,

Gary McCormick, Richard Livingston, Trevor Polley, Christine Mahon, Marc Pyper, Leanne Briggs,

Mary Russell, Andrea White, Donna Wilson, Elaine Garrett, Phil Taylor and Trevor Kelly.

MALCOLM, BOB. "News: Sugar, No Spice" Community Telegraph (North Down & Ards edtion) Belfast, Wednesday 14 September 2011, p 6

FLOWERS, PAUL. "NEWS: Bangor sculptor Brendan Jamison joins Art on the Seafront", County Down Spectator, Northern Ireland, Thursday 8 September 2011, p 17

SANDERSON, RUTH. and MUIR, MARIE-LOUISE. “Sugar Cube Town Hall" Arts Extra, BBC Radio Ulster, Belfast, Monday 5 September 2011, 6:30 pm

BLEAKLEY, LAURA. "Bangor Castle Recreated in Sugar Cubes" BBC NEWS, Monday 5 September 2011

MORGAN, MELISSA. "Discover late night gems in North Down", County Down Spectator, Northern Ireland, Thursday 1 September 2011, Section Two, p 12

CROZIER, MIRIAM. "Art on the Seafront featuring visual artist/sculptor Brendan Jamison", North Down Arts, North Down Borough Council, Northen Ireland, September-December 2011, p 3

NIKOLIC, MATT. "Photos: the week in pictures: Ireland's Brendan Jamison designs irresistible displays made entirely from sugar cubes" Fox FM Melbourne, Radio 101.9 MHz, Australia, Austereo Radio Network, 30 August 2011

McGLYNN, DAMIEN. "Brendan Jamison at Art on the Seafront, Bangor" Visual Artists Ireland, Dublin, 30 August 2011

FLOWERS, PAUL. "News: Bangor is sweet thanks to cube artist Jamison", County Down Spectator, Northern Ireland, Thursday 25 August 2011, p 12

VICKERS, ANNE. "Sculptor Brendan Jamison's Sugar Sculptures" Sussex Breakfast, BBC Radio Sussex, England, live interview at 8:53am, 25 August 2011

POOLE, AMANDA. "One lump or 250,000? Cubist masterpieces from the artist who sculpts with sugar" Belfast Telegraph, Wednesday 24 August 2011, p 3

HAILES, ANNE. "Town Hall that is the sweetest of them all", The Irish News, Belfast, Monday 22 August 2011, Womentalk, p 12

MORGAN, MELISSA. "Life is Sweet!", County Down Spectator, Northern Ireland, Thursday 18 August 2011, Section Two, p 12

WEST, BILL. "News: Bangor Castle Town Hall: Carved Sugar Cube Commission", SculptSite, Arizona, USA, 18 August 2011

MALLIE, EAMONN. "Sweet structures born out of cubes would make your mouth water", Belfast, The Mallie File, Belfast, 1 July 2011

SAVAGE, JOHN. "Civic Dinner for Renowned Bangor-born sculptor Brendan Jamison", The Newtownards Chronicle, Northern Ireland, 23 June 2011, Section Two, p 11

PRENTICE, GAIL. "Highlights: Sugar Coated Art", North Down Matters, North Down Borough Council, Northen Ireland, Summer 2011, p 3

SUGAR, NO SPICE, AND THE SCULPTURE IS JUST AS NICE            

By Bob Malcolm

A SUGAR cube sculptor has helped rejuvenate Bangor town centre’s empty spaces at Queen’s Parade development site and a High Street vacant shop as part of the Art on the Seafront 2011.

Launched on September 6, the exhibition was opened by deputy mayor of North Down Alan Leslie on Queen’s Parade redevelopment site.

The sugar cube town hall is a sculpture model and 20 large-scale billboard photographs and a time-lapse video installation were erected on the seafront for all to see.

The artist responsible for the sugary visual treat, Brendan Jamison said: “It took six months to carve the sculpture and 48,000 sugar cubes.

“Bangor Castle Town Hall has been the most challenging commission to date, a huge amount of concentration and focus was required to carve the balcony pillars and intricate strap-work above the bay windows.

He added: “I have always been attracted to using unusual materials in sculpture. For me, it is about developing a signature style that has a uniqueness. “It is about pushing the boundaries of contemporary sculpture,” he said.

“Sugar has a special magical quality through the sparkles on the surface and it is also a beautiful material to cut and carve into intricate shapes. “When the public view these sculptures, it becomes a multi-sensory experience as the sculptures are not only visual but people also imagine the taste as well.”

The Art on the Seafront project, now in its 9^th year, was initiated by North Down Borough Council’s Arts Section.

A spokesperson from the Art section said: “Each year Art on the Seafront utilises diverse external locations including vacant shop fronts, billboards, adshel shelters and advertising mesh to bring visual art out of the gallery space and into the public realm, giving people who may not normally attend exhibitions an opportunity to view visual art.”

The projects revitalise vacant spaces and derelict buildings on the Queen’s Parade of Bangor Town centre,” added the spokesperson.

The sculpture is on show at the Town Hall reception from September 15, and is accompanied by a series of 20 large-scale photographs depicting the progress of the work on hoardings at Queen’s Parade in Bangor Town Centre.   

Sometimes paint and canvases are just not enough for an artist.

Bangor native Brendan Jamison has already gained world-wide attention for his work in various unusual media and is now bringing his work closer to home.

Last year he was commissioned to create the iconic Tate Modern building in London and made it to scale using exactly 71,908 sugar cubes.

This time it is the turn of Bangor Castle Town Hall which has received this unique sculpting treatment.

Over the last six months, Brendan has been carefully crafting each detail to perfection using more than 48,000 cubes.

Even the model's distinctive clock tower points to 18:52, a reference to the year the mansion house was built.

The sculpture displays the building's Elizabethan-Jacobean revival style which in reality has 35 bedrooms and a huge saloon for musical recitals.

Challenges

Brendan said capturing such a precise representation caused some difficulty.

"The Elizabethan-revival style of 1852 features many intricate architectural details such as balcony pillars, strap work and pinnacles, all of which present challenges to replicate in sugar," he said.

"However, with intense concentration and a focused carving technique, all of the ornate elements were sculpted accurately."

Miriam Crozier, cultural services and marketing officer for the council, said working with Brendan had "been a very special privilege".

"As the light glints on the sugar of the sculpture, it casts Bangor Town Hall in a magical, fairytale light," she added.

The commission is part of an ongoing art project, Art on the Seafront, and is on display in the Long Gallery until mid-September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14767097

Brendan Jamison's sugar cube sculpture of Bangor Castle Town Hall

Brendan Jamison with his

Tate Modern sculpture

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Around the BBC

• BBC - Northern Ireland - Blast - Make It For Real - Brendan Jamison

Curated by Gail Prentice, North Down Borough Council presents the 9th installment of ‘Art on the Seafront’ with a special commission of Bangor Castle Town Hall in carved sugar cubes by internationally-renowned sculptor Brendan Jamison. 20 images of the construction process will be on display on a giant 120ft long billboard at the Queen’s Parade development site in Bangor. A time-lapse video of the building of the sculpture will also be on display in a vacant shop front on Bangor High Street. The exhibition will be launched by Mayor of North Down James McKerrow at 11am on Tuesday 6 September at Queen’s Parade. A drinks reception will be held afterwards at the North Down Museum for visitors to view the completed sculpture.

www.northdown.gov.uk / www.brendanjamison.com

Life is sweet for artist Brendan Jamison.   For the 32-year-old has built a remarkable career on his

ground-breaking sugar cube sculptures. One is currently the largest such structure in the world.

Now the Co Down man has brought his painstaking talent home to recreate some more familiar structures. North Down Borough Council commissioned him to make a sculpture of his home town Bangor's most recognisable landmark, the Town Hall.

Made entirely of sugar cubes, it will include the hands on the clock pointing to eight minutes to seven, or 18:52 in the 24-hour clock, also the year the Wards built the Elizabethan Revival-style mansion.

As part of the ninth Art On The Seafront project, Brendan will be in residence in North Down museum until Friday, where he is coordinating free public sugar cube building workshops.

Over the past eight years his work has been exhibited in public, private and corporate collections throughout the world. 

The University of Ulster Art College graduate has two other shows running at the moment. The first, at the Towner Museum of Contemporary Art in Eastbourne, features a five-metre high sugar cube sculpture called 'Tower'. It's the largest sugar cube sculpture in the world, weighs nearly 80-stone and took 250,000 sugar cubes to complete. The second is running in the Dickon Hall Gallery at the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast until September 2 and features the largest pieces from his Co. Down-inspired Helen's Tower series.

Thankfully, none of his commissions have ever been ruined by a rogue cup of spilled tea. He said: "I keep the studio very clean and there are no drinks allowed! Once commissions are complete they are covered in cases, so that prevents damage."

Jamison said he first began to experiment with sugar sculpture in 2003. "Obviously bronze, stone and wood are quite common, so I wanted to explore a new material and create my own signature style."

He said people are thoroughly enjoying trying out sugar sculpture for themselves during his residency in Bangor. "Workshops are open to adults and children alike. It's been an overwhelming success."

For further information about the Town Hall sculpture call 028 9127 1200or visit www.northdown.gov.uk. For more about Brendan, visit www.brendanjamison.com.

‘Sweet structures’ born out of ‘cubes’ would make your mouth water.

Eamonn Mallie | July 1, 2011

Largest sugar cube sculpture in the world….

SUGAR CUBE TOWER

On July 2nd, at the Towner Museum of Contemporary Art (A new 8.5 million pound purpose built visual arts venue on the coast of England’s popular seaside town of Eastbourne) Brendan Jamison will be exhibiting TOWER, a giant 5 metre tall sculpture that has been built over the past three and a half years from a quarter of a million sugar cubes. The total weight of the sculpture is 506 kilogrammes (over half a tonne) and is the largest sugar cube sculpture ever created in the world.

A sprinkling of loose sugar crystals radiate outwards from the base of the tower. A river of cubes meander across the gallery floor. The crystals can reference the chalk erosion from the nearby Beachy Head cliff, the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain. The installation also interacts with the interior architecture of the gallery and plays upon the viewer’s perception of scale. The sculpture combines the shape of the solid masculine building block with the sparkling sugar crystals and sweetness of the feminine material, both of which visually dissolve the construction into an androgynous architectural form. On an other level, the sculpture captures a child-like sense of wonder and notions of the fairytale. Within a local context, the tower can reference elements from the structures of the coastal Martello Towers, Redoubt Fortress and the Belle Tout Lighthouse.

This project was jointly funded by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Towner Museum, Eastbourne. Jamison’s chief fabricator, Karin Bamford, assisted in the construction of the sculpture.

Last year Jamison was commissioned by NEO Bankside to carve the iconic Tate Modern in sugar cubes for the London Festival of Architecture. Afterwards, his sugar sculptures were sold at Sotheby’s on Bond Street. The largest works from the Helen’s Tower series are currently on display at the Dickon Hall Gallery (Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast) until 2nd September. The artist is also currently working on a major commission for North Down Borough Council in his hometown. Scheduled to be unveiled on 22 August, Jamison is building a sugar cube sculpture of Bangor Castle Town Hall, an Elizabethan Revival mansion built in 1852 by the Ward family.

For further info please visit www.brendanjamison.com