Robert has become a Patron of Bury Hospice along with his Radio 1 DJ Sister Sara Cox.
ara was a guest at the official building hand-over in December 2012.
I became involved with Bury Hospice as a supporter in Summer 2012 when I was offered the project of designing a Donor Wall for the new Bury Hospice being built and paid for primarily by charitable donation by the people of Bury.
The remit was to create a piece of art, on a large scale (approx 8 feet tall x 23 feet long) that embodied the spirit of Bury Hospice and the work they carry out, together with the provision of being able to recognise the charitable donations and legacies that enable the Bury Hospice to offer the essential service that it provides to the people of Bury.
A challenging project, I explored and sketched several design concepts until I settled upon "Spirit", the concept of which is;
"The 6 towns of Bury, depicted by the six ribbons, each in a colour to match the six colours of the bird logo. The six ribbons inter-twining create the overall image reflecting the six towns working together in support of, and being supported by, the Bury Hospice.
Each of Bury's towns is individual in it’s own way but the people have the same aspirations, hopes, and human spirit that drives them forwards. The vision is 'dynamic’, the bird is a free spirit and the continuity of the flowing ribbons made of hearts reflects the continuity of the spirit of those who have gone before.
The hearts reflect the love that they leave behind and take with them".
The location for the artwork was decided upon during early stages of the new building construction. Working with the Hospice management namely Jacqui and Claire we decided on using acrylic plastic hearts to attach to the wall art to recognise individual donations made to the Hospice. In-keeping with the desire to use local suppliers we approached local plastics company GJ Plastics, who are specialists in sign manufacture. GJ Plastics engaged the services of Mike Wilkinson, a web graphic expert who was tasked to digitize my drawings to enable GJ Plastics to produce my artwork at their state-of-the-art production facility.
The ribbon design is populated with around 4000 hearts, each one is individually placed to depict the dynamic flow of the ribbons. The design has been printed onto sheets which have been affixed to the wall during assembly. The finished artwork is 2.2M high and 7M long.
Hearts made from tinted acrylic to correspond with the six ribbons are produced, each heart is then engraved with the name of the person giving financial support to the hospice. The hearts are then placed on the ribbons. In doing so the appearance of artwork will itself evolve over the coming years.
This project has been a fusion of Art with modern high-tech manufacture, the result of which is a stunning artwork donor wall created using modern plastic materials.
I donated my time, efforts and skill in the creation of this artwork.