Noon | folkestone triennial proposal

Introduction

I’m developing an idea for an alignment artwork that acts like a sun dial and records the angle of the sun at a certain point of the year.

The sun in the winter (in the northern hemispere) is low in the sky, scrapping up over the horizon in the south east and dropping back again in the south-west, shining for about 8 hours at the latitude of Folkestone (51° 4′ 53.0328” N), with less sunlight time the further north you go; Glasgow’s latitude is 55.85781° N and there is approx. 7 hours of sunlight.

Winter solstice sunrise, 128 degrees SE, 7.56am, Folkestone 2019
Black and white 35mm film photograph, scanned.

Winter solstice is a significant moment in the year, as it marks the return of increasing daylight. Christmas replaces the pagan festival of winter solstice to lighten the darkest time of the year with Christmas lights and festivities to possibly distract humans from the lack of light and to celebrate the return or rebirth of the light/sun.

Drawings of height of noon time sun onto sphere, page from sketchbook, December 2019

Artwork idea

To paint the light and the dark onto the walls behind the tree, to record the position of the tree’s shadow.

In doing so, the sun will cast a shadow which will move down through the year, as the sun gets higher and will correspond again with the mural at the winter solstice, so will act as a sundial.

B&W film photograph of a tree and it’s shadow, cast over the building, at midday on the winter solstice,
Corner of Christchurch Road and the Folkestone Garden of Remembrance, Folkestone.

The wall on the left which is presently a magnolia colour would be darkened and then mapped out and then a paler colour of paint would be painted where the light is.

Film photograph of the shadow on the grey brick wall, with casting trees in the foreground.

White/ pale magnolia paint would be applied over the raw brick on the long wall on the above picture. The original wall would be left as it is.

I imagine using an airbrush and to paint it quite subtly, with painterly impression, not solid colour necessarily.

Brick wall and shadows on right, and location indicated by the Radnor Arms opposite.

Photograph of wall opposite the Radnor Arms, shadow at noon from tree and street light.

The overall effect would be subtle and people might miss the effect as it will look like a real shadow.

How to make the work

I painted this mural in my home about 8 years ago. It is the shadow of a vase of June flowers which was recorded on the summer solstice as the sun bounced off a window and into my flat across this table.

I have painted a paler mix of the emulsion paint used on the walls, on top of the stone/putty coloured walls, after drawing around the shadow quickly with light pencil, as the shadow moves fast.

Visitors to my flat often think it’s a real shadow and when they realise it’s a painting they seem very excited by this piece

Scaffolding or a cherry picker would be used to access the walls
Photograph by Ben Brookes taken in Copenhagen.

The plotting of the shadow would be possible as the bricks will allow a map to be made and then corresponding lines can be traced and then painted.

Initial plotting system, showing 2 co-ordinates

Alternatively, the image could be projected over the wall and traced, using the bricks as a guide.

Idea in development

Nancy Holt Sun Tunnels 1973-76 Great Basin Desert, Utah

The idea started as thinking about building a sculpture that invited the viewer to look through the piece towards the sunrise and sunset for the winter and summer solstice and spring autumn equinoxes, like Nancy Holt’s sun tunnels…

Nancy Holt Sun Tunnels, alignment looking south-east to the sunrise

I was inspired to design a concrete structure in the style of the remnants of the war architectural structures found along the south-east Kent coast.

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  Photos taken in Dymchurch by Juliet Hawley

sketchbook notes: angles of sunrise /set for summer/winter solstice, spring/autumn equinox
for the longitude of Folkestone, UK

History of alignment artwork: Degree show piece in 2000 @ Glasgow School of Art

Kate Beaugié Skypool 21.06.00, water pool aligned toward the sunrise and sunset for summer solstice in Glasgow

Skypool 21.06.00, 2000, water pool aligned toward the sunrise and sunset for Glasgow, reflecting the window of the the Mackintosh Building, Glasgow School of Art designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

I went down to watch the sunrise on Wed 18th Dec.

angle of sunrise on 18.12.19 from Leas Cliff Hall

Sunrise 18.12.19 at 7.57am

My shadow from the sunrise, 18.12.19 projected onto the Leas Cliff Hall Cafe

Looking at my shadow and the projection of light returned me to the idea I have held for about 20 years to paint a mural of the shadow of a tree over an building to preserve that moment in paint.

I looked all over Folkestone for a good shadow at the point of noon for the next few days and found the best shadow to be on the walls mentioned above.