Alision Wilding

Alison Wilding’s Ambit 1999, is a large sculptural piece constructed from metal and lighting which floats in the River Wear at Sunderland. The work is shaped like a ship with a pointed end and a stern but an interactive thing about this work is that it moves with the tide and flow of the river. The reflective quality to ‘ambit’ means that the city is reflective back at itself and the underwater lighting give it a glow in the dark, although this may sound flashy the piece actually draws attention to its surroundings due to the fact that it is reflective therefore making it a discreet work of art.

Got a positive response from the city of Sunderland’s people as where it floated in the river wear created an interesting introspective as there are many view points to this work which give the public a different background on which the work is displayed as it is underneath the Wearmouth bridge so can be seen from the river with the city as a background or from the bridge looking out to sea.

The city originally requested a monument to their past but instead got a glimpse of the future with this ship-shape abstract work by Alison Wilding, a reminder that the world progresses constantly and its identity with it, as this piece makes the city feel like a work of art as its reflected back on its self.

The BBC had an interview with Alison wilding on the 25^th may 1988 where she goes into detail about the struggle she has when creating her works and what is important for her to portray to the public through the sculptures that she creates.

Pure sculpture, it’s the start of the art, as its uses intuitive materials which are freeing to form allowing the artist to have an interaction with the materials which then relate in the final piece which then the audience can also see the interaction. Alison Wilding has an emotional response to her work with the materials she uses and the shapes she creates, she believes that her life nourishes her work, so her personal relationships affect the outcome of her sculptures.

Although she admits that she has trouble working, gets stuck like a fly in a spiders web, and can stare at the work for hours before she sees how to move it forward but this is the way she work she has to really look at a sculpture so she will know how other people will view it as you can often be your hardest critic so only you will know when a work is at completion.