Added to site Thursday, July 3, 2008

Statue attracts media attention

A seven foot sculpture of Christ commissioned by Uckfield Catholic Church is taking shape.
Parishioners were able to see progress at the weekend and the media were invited to take photographs of the figure yesterday.
A Meridian TV cameraman joined photographers from The Argus and Uckfield Leader, Courier and Sussex Express as children from St Philip’s Primary School worked with sculptor Marcus Cornish.
Marcus talked to the children as he worked on the sculpture and gave them chance to make casts from their own hand prints in clay.
The sculptor was commissioned, following a competitive process, to create the statue
to be fixed to the tower of Uckfield Catholic Church.
Its steel skeleton is now covered with ‘muscles’ of clay and the detail of hands, feet and face are clear to see. The next job is to dress the figure in contemporary clothing, light shirt and trousers blowing in the breeze as they might on a church tower. Eventually it will be cast in bronze.
As well as watching, sketching, learning and writing about the creative process the St Philip’s children are being helped by Marcus to work on a statue of their own.
They are fashioning 200 faces, in their own likenesses, which will eventually be put together to form a cloak for the school’s patron saint St Philip Neri. Marcus will sculpt the hands and face of the figure.
Teacher Simon Virgo, whose Year 3 class was working with Marcus this week, said it was a ‘very precious, once in a lifetime opportunity for the children’.
‘Marcus is not only a very talented artist and teacher but also a very sympathetic, caring individual and role model for the children – and of course he has a great link with the kids because he made the Paddington Bear at Paddington station.’

Picture and story appeared on p5 of The Argus on Thursday, July 3, 2008, see top right. The Uckfield Leader carried a picture and story on p1 the same day, see above. Pictures and stories were also carried in the Courier, on p3, and the Sussex Express, on p4, on Friday, July 4.

Church commissions seven foot sculpture of Christ for bell tower

A seven foot figure of Christ in contemporary dress has been commissioned by Catholic parishioners in Uckfield to be fixed on the church’s bell tower.
The parish has a tradition of commissioning important works of art and the sculpture has been chosen to mark the 50th anniversary of the church’s foundation.
Baroness Cumberlege, who is leading the initiative, said it was thanks to a generous benefactor, the late Mrs Winifred Gregory, that the church was able to seek out “the best sculptor in the land”.
Ten were contacted and five invited to present their ideas to the parish. Eventually the commission was won by Marcus Cornish whose work has been admired and bought by the Prince of Wales.
Marcus will be working on site so that he can involve both parishioners and children from the neighbouring Catholic primary school.

He has produced a model, pictured right, to show what he hopes to create.
There was great excitement last week when he climbed the church tower to fix a cardboard mock-up of the sculpture so he could take photographs and make sure his figure would be to the right scale.
Now Marcus has set up his own scaffolding tower so that as he works he can periodically haul the sculpture to the correct height to check perspective.
First he will build a steel skeleton upon which to mould clay. This will then be cast in plaster before Marcus climbs the church tower once more with the model. If all is well the figure will be taken to the foundry where it will be cast, first in wax and then in bronze. The final touch will be gilding the halo around the head of Christ.
In addition to this Marcus will be helping the children to build their own six foot model of the school’s patron saint, St Philip Neri. They will make St Philip’s cloak by contributing 200 smiling faces while Marcus sculpts the face and hands.
Parish priest Fr David Buckley said: “We are so fortunate to find a local sculptor of national importance who can interpret Winifred Gregory’s bequest. It was her specific wish that the Catholic community in Uckfield should benefit and that we should promote Christianity to the wider world.”
Baroness Cumberlege said: ‘When there has been so much controversy surrounding modern sculptures I am delighted that this project has the whole-hearted support of the parish and the local school. We could not have found a better person than Marcus who is a teacher, a new father and a committed Christian in addition to being a sculptor with exceptional talent.”

Press release distributed on Tuesday, May 6, 2008. It appeared on p3 of the Leader, above left with picture, on Thursday, May 8, and was p15 lead in the Courier on Friday, May 9, see above right. A story also appeared with pictures in the Sussex Express on Friday, May 9, and another was on p5 of the Express on Friday, May 16.

The story was on p3 of The Universe on Sunday, June 1, 2008.