The 2017 Kinetic Sculpture Exhibition was the second successful year of an exhibition which the DW&LCT will be holding annually in the month of July. During the 2017 exhibition DW&LCT and Dulverton Junior School jointly organised a Junior Hydraulic Motor Engineer Competition for pupils of the school. This also took place in Dulverton Leat. Details and a film of this event can be seen on the Academic/Learning Resources page of this website.
Kinetic Sculpture Exhibits are placed in Dulverton Leat (mill stream) which affords safe and secure exhibition ‘pitches’ allowing large numbers of spectators to view the sculptures.
The 2017 exhibition featured a return visit by ‘Transforming Movement’ by Luke Tupper (see the film on the webpage for the 2016 exhibition) and new to the exhibition in 2017 was ‘Ophelia’, a sculpture by Jacki Leighton-Boyce, another of the Artists in Residence on the Dulverton Weir & Leat Project.
‘Ophelia’ was inspired by the famous painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed between 1851 and 1852. Millais was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood group of painters. The painting is held in the Tate Britain in London. It depicts Ophelia, a character from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark.
Millais painted the scene where Ophelia had fallen into the river from a tree overhanging it, while gathering flowers. she lies in the water singing songs, as if unaware of her danger.
The painting is known for its depiction of the detailed flora of the river and the riverbank, stressing the patterns of growth and decay in a natural ecosystem. We have no evidence that Millais came to Dulverton, but despite its nominal Danish setting, the landscape has come to be seen as quintessentially English.
Jacki recreated her own version of the painting using clay and glazes. The painting was her immediate inspiration for the project because of its classic depiction of a gentle British waterway and the flora surrounding its banks. The piece was made from white earthenware clay and painted with underglaze colours and stains. Jacki then applied differently coloured glazes. It was fired twice to the temperature of 1080 degrees in order to fuse the glazes. Read more about Jacki on the ‘Artists in Residence’ page of this website.
Although subsequently sold and now in private ownership, DW&LCT hope to host ‘Ophelia’ again in the 2018 Kinetic Sculpture Exhibition along with more exhibits already being planned.
A film of ‘Ophelia’ can be accessed at the link below:-
More details of the 2019 Kinetic Sculpture Exhibition can be found on the ‘Upcoming Events’ page of this website.