Public Art on the Black Country Route

Jamie McCullough 1995

'Bilston Oak' - May 1998
Pressure treated redwood with gravel core
Timberwork and on site construction by Cowley Structural Timberwork of Wallingford, Lincoln
Jamie spent a number of months working with us on the proposals for this part of the Road. He designed this sculpture on a computer using AutoCAD . Before it was approved for commissioning he also made a physical model. The sculpture has an internal core or earth and there are trees planted in the sides and the top. The pressure treated timber arms are filled with gravel. Cowley Structural Timberwork translated his drawings and model into this large sculpture. It is sited on a large mound that was intentionally left during the road construction at the roundabout junction of the Black Country Route with the Black Country New Road . The sculpture is based on the form of a tree stump and represents the old Bilston of the Industrial age with fresh oak trees (literally) growing out of the old stump, the new green shoots of Bilston of the future. Jamie's thoughts on this and the reasoning behind his other work and inspirations for a number of other artist's briefs are set out on the Jamie's thoughts page. Tessa Pullan's "Horse and Rider" sculpture lies across the carriageway from the "Bilston Oak". |
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Computer visualisation of "Bilston Oak"
Tribute
| I would like to pay my personal tribute to Jamie McCullough , Artist,
Craftsman and Polymath who died suddenly on Saturday 4th April 1998 in hospital in London.
My colleagues and I had the delight of working with Jamie in our office for a period of
three months in 1995. Jamie's ideas made the "Magic
Forest" and he contributed two major sculptures to this final phase of our work
on the Black Country Route. More recently we worked with Jamie on major elements of a new
landscape project at Wednesfield (also part of Wolverhampton).
The trellis towers that form part of this work were erected in June 1998. Jamie had a lot more to do in this world. I hope that the work we did with him will act as a small memorial. I know that the people in the community of Bilston that he met and talked to will remember him with affection and take pride in his work. |
Black Country Route Location Map
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