The UK’s first pod-built housing scheme, in Basingstoke, has given Caroline Dear her largest stone public art commission to date and the residents of Austen Court, as the development is called, a fine Portland limestone sculpture as the centrepiece of their communal garden.
The finished three-ton, four sided pyramid of Portland stone with a sundial on top has a depiction of a different facet of Basingstoke on each face – hence the title of the piece, ‘Aspects of Basingstoke’.
It was unveiled last month by the Mayor of Basingstoke, Cllr George Hood, at an event that included a barbeque for those involved in the construction and those residents who have already moved into the new flats.
On one side of ‘Aspects of Basingstoke’ is St Michael slaying a dragon, which is from the town crest. Another has a book and a quill pen to denote Jane Austen, after whom the development takes its name. A third shows the canals and railways of the town and the fourth depicts Basingstoke new town.
Caroline embarked on her new career in stone after being a civilian swimming instructor in the army. She gained a Degree in Conservation from Bournemouth University followed by an Advanced Stonemasonry Diploma from the Building Crafts College in London, after which she studied restoration carving at the City and Guilds of London Art School. In 2004 she was a Prince’s Foundation Craft Scholar.
She had been working on conservation projects and producing garden sculpture when the opportunity to carve her first major piece of public art presented itself at Austen Court.
The commission came about through a conversation she had during the restoration of Tudor House in her home base of Southampton. “Their son happened to be working on Austen Court,” Caroline told NSS. “They wanted a sundial for Austen Court and they knew I had carved sundials for gardens and that I work in Portland and slate.”
Caroline began working in the winter under a temporary shelter standing in a ditch dug to give her access to the lower parts of the stone. She spent five months carving by hand as the £12million development of 162 one- and two-bedroomed ‘affordable’ flats in three blocks were erected around her, constructed of pods made in Ireland that were transported to site with all mechanical and electrical fittings in place ready to be connected to the services.
The finished three-ton, four sided pyramid of Portland stone with a sundial on top has a depiction of a different facet of Basingstoke on each face – hence the title of the piece, ‘Aspects of Basingstoke’.
It was unveiled last month by the Mayor of Basingstoke, Cllr George Hood, at an event that included a barbeque for those involved in the construction and those residents who have already moved into the new flats.
On one side of ‘Aspects of Basingstoke’ is St Michael slaying a dragon, which is from the town crest. Another has a book and a quill pen to denote Jane Austen, after whom the development takes its name. A third shows the canals and railways of the town and the fourth depicts Basingstoke new town.
Caroline embarked on her new career in stone after being a civilian swimming instructor in the army. She gained a Degree in Conservation from Bournemouth University followed by an Advanced Stonemasonry Diploma from the Building Crafts College in London, after which she studied restoration carving at the City and Guilds of London Art School. In 2004 she was a Prince’s Foundation Craft Scholar.
She had been working on conservation projects and producing garden sculpture when the opportunity to carve her first major piece of public art presented itself at Austen Court.
The commission came about through a conversation she had during the restoration of Tudor House in her home base of Southampton. “Their son happened to be working on Austen Court,” Caroline told NSS. “They wanted a sundial for Austen Court and they knew I had carved sundials for gardens and that I work in Portland and slate.”
Caroline began working in the winter under a temporary shelter standing in a ditch dug to give her access to the lower parts of the stone. She spent five months carving by hand as the £12million development of 162 one- and two-bedroomed ‘affordable’ flats in three blocks were erected around her, constructed of pods made in Ireland that were transported to site with all mechanical and electrical fittings in place ready to be connected to the services.