ALBION MILLS Acrylic on canvas 2019. 800mm x 650mm
There are several points of access to this painting
I was interested in the apsidal structures of churches in Reggio Emilia and Ferrara. A semi-circular brick choir becomes a spiritual boundary between the public space of a piazza and the ceremonial interior space of the church. From 15th century onwards the wall is often given few window openings, so the volume becomes redolent of a colossal votive silo. Often with little visible buttressing on the exterior, just lean terracotta pilasters with cornices and an entablature at the summit. Such buildings frequently display the scars of previous alterations and additions. They reiterate an architectural volume associated with liturgical function that becomes the backdrop landmark for markets, festivals and daily activities in the city square. A decorated drum, dome and statuary project a permanent cityscape above the piazza, demanding that we should raise our gaze towards an unreachable celestial city above the roof tiles. I found that Albion Mills reminded me of these places, also because of the variety of urbs picta; painted structures inside the industrial subject.
Another theme was the Nelstrops Flour Mill at the summit of Lancashire Hill Stockport as an industrial subject rebuilt in 1893. Its delivery access is from a large road area through green gates down to the visitor and driver office, a small car park flanked by pallets, shipping containers and an improvised steel reception kiosk. Four large flour silos, like chapels, sit behind a long shed with its roof colonised by a carpet of yellow moss. The gabled mill itself shows evidence of changes to its interior spaces and its brickwork has a taken on a dusting of flour over the years to make the brickwork appear new. It uses a white tile typography for ALBION MILLS that was common across the factories of the region. Rising above this building is an Italianate feudal tower structure that would be at home in 14th century Lombardy. Terracotta arcades, classical ornament and pseudo machicolations stamp the silhouette of the factory on the summit of the hill as if it was a lost ducal palace of Stockport. The mills of Albion, proud to contribute to the role of Stockport a town with a 19th century reputation for patriotic place names and traditional English loyalties. The addition of a red stripe to the original silos makes the tanks heraldic in a way that recalls the flag of St George. The road space in the foreground is patterned with patched repairs generated by heavy freighter deliveries and tyre tread marks on the asphalt. My render imitates a piazza with the cathedral of industry behind. I was also happy to attempt an homage to the great American industrial landscapes of Charles Sheeler produced between the 1920s-1940s
Finally, the painting must be associated with the lost years of Brexit and is a product of the economic uncertainty of the second decade of the millennium. My first studies were made on a day when stormy skies parted to allow the sunlight to create sharp shadows across the mill buildings. The cloudscape creates a dialogue with the chaotic and weathered structures below; a shadow of doubt on the status of Britain (Albion) as a place of industry. Empty pallets are stacked up as evidence of a trading connections past and future.
The Mills of Stockport at;
https://www.nelstrop.co.uk/history
http://democracy.stockport.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=122695
https://industrial-archaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2000-Industrial-Archaeology-of-Greater-Manchester.pdf
There are several points of access to this painting
I was interested in the apsidal structures of churches in Reggio Emilia and Ferrara. A semi-circular brick choir becomes a spiritual boundary between the public space of a piazza and the ceremonial interior space of the church. From 15th century onwards the wall is often given few window openings, so the volume becomes redolent of a colossal votive silo. Often with little visible buttressing on the exterior, just lean terracotta pilasters with cornices and an entablature at the summit. Such buildings frequently display the scars of previous alterations and additions. They reiterate an architectural volume associated with liturgical function that becomes the backdrop landmark for markets, festivals and daily activities in the city square. A decorated drum, dome and statuary project a permanent cityscape above the piazza, demanding that we should raise our gaze towards an unreachable celestial city above the roof tiles. I found that Albion Mills reminded me of these places, also because of the variety of urbs picta; painted structures inside the industrial subject.
Another theme was the Nelstrops Flour Mill at the summit of Lancashire Hill Stockport as an industrial subject rebuilt in 1893. Its delivery access is from a large road area through green gates down to the visitor and driver office, a small car park flanked by pallets, shipping containers and an improvised steel reception kiosk. Four large flour silos, like chapels, sit behind a long shed with its roof colonised by a carpet of yellow moss. The gabled mill itself shows evidence of changes to its interior spaces and its brickwork has a taken on a dusting of flour over the years to make the brickwork appear new. It uses a white tile typography for ALBION MILLS that was common across the factories of the region. Rising above this building is an Italianate feudal tower structure that would be at home in 14th century Lombardy. Terracotta arcades, classical ornament and pseudo machicolations stamp the silhouette of the factory on the summit of the hill as if it was a lost ducal palace of Stockport. The mills of Albion, proud to contribute to the role of Stockport a town with a 19th century reputation for patriotic place names and traditional English loyalties. The addition of a red stripe to the original silos makes the tanks heraldic in a way that recalls the flag of St George. The road space in the foreground is patterned with patched repairs generated by heavy freighter deliveries and tyre tread marks on the asphalt. My render imitates a piazza with the cathedral of industry behind. I was also happy to attempt an homage to the great American industrial landscapes of Charles Sheeler produced between the 1920s-1940s
Finally, the painting must be associated with the lost years of Brexit and is a product of the economic uncertainty of the second decade of the millennium. My first studies were made on a day when stormy skies parted to allow the sunlight to create sharp shadows across the mill buildings. The cloudscape creates a dialogue with the chaotic and weathered structures below; a shadow of doubt on the status of Britain (Albion) as a place of industry. Empty pallets are stacked up as evidence of a trading connections past and future.
The Mills of Stockport at;
https://www.nelstrop.co.uk/history
http://democracy.stockport.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=122695
https://industrial-archaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2000-Industrial-Archaeology-of-Greater-Manchester.pdf