Sheffield

Steel Jungle – new installation in Newcastle + Print RELEASE

| Florence EMA Blanchard

STEEL JUNGLE 2022: New public art installation in Newcastle UK

I’m very pleased to announce the unveiling of my newest public art commission: A stepped mural on Queen St, Quayside Newcastle UK. Taken inspiration from the colours of Tyne brigdge, I re-worked a design I previously painted on a canvas before the pandemic – see first version on photo below.
Thanks Unit44 gallery and Newcastle NE1 for inviting me to design this stepped mural© Ben Hughes

To celebrate this new installation I produced a limited series of prints available to purchase on my online shop:

https://florenceblanchard.bigcartel.com/product/steel-jungle


BELOW: STEEL JUNGLE Print
approx 50 x 70 cm
Giclée print
Edition size: 50

Inspired by recent travels to the great Northern UK and Celebrating 10+ years of living in Sheffield. Printed in Sheffield.

On view at the Sheffield Print Fair at Millennium Gallery on Saturday this coming weekend.

Sheffield Print Fair 2022

Sat, 12 Nov, 10:00–16:00

Millennium Gallery
48 Arundel Gate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield

BOUNCE! new large scale art installation in Sheffield UK

| Florence EMA Blanchard

SITE GALLERY LAUNCHES BOUNCE! BY FLORENCE BLANCHARD, A LARGESCALE INSTALLATION IN SITE SQUARE, BROWN STREET, S1 2BS.

Sheffield-based artist Florence Blanchard is known internationally for her work transforming city spaces with her signature style of flowing, amorphous shapes in bright colours. Working in partnership with playground paint specialist Uniplay she has transformed an area 1000 sqm into a vibrant, playful focal point for the Cultural Industries Quarter in a landmark project that can be freely accessed by anyone.

Judith Harry, Executive Director of Site Gallery, said:

“The impact of Florence’s work is remarkable. It has added a whole new dimension to the public realm around Site Gallery and is a wonderful addition to a series of public artworks we have commissioned in the area over the past couple of years. Florence has recognised the untapped potential of the square and created an environment which celebrates the creativity of the cultural industries quarter”

The project was commissioned through City of Ideas – an Arts Council England Ambition for Excellence funded programme which was led by Site Gallery on behalf of a consortia of Sheffield arts organisations based in the Cultural Industries Quarter.

To read the full press release, please click here.

To celebrate this project I produced a print edition inspired by the design of the square. The print is available on my online shop.

Biomembrane – Festival Of The Mind 2016

| Florence EMA Blanchard

I am delighted to present my newest mural here – a collaboration with CBMNet at the University Of Sheffield, in conjunction with Festival Of The Mind 2016 / Fear of the Unseen: Engineering Good Bacteria.

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The ‘Crossing Biological Membranes Network’ is composed of scientists working to understand the mechanisms by which substances are transported into, within, and out of cells. Their ultimate aim is to produce knowledge which will enable the development of new technologies in the Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy sector (eg: producing biofuels using E coli bacteria).

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My role in this collaboration has been to translate the CBMNet area of work into a large outdoor mural located within the university campus. For this occasion I have presented my interpretation of a detail of a cell membrane as seen under an electron microscope, having undergone a cryofracture. A cryofracture is  a procedure in which the sample is frozen quickly and then  broken with a sharp blow so you are able to study its structure in very close detail – Imagine breaking a bar of chocolate with hazelnuts, this way you can see how hazelnuts are positioned inside the bar…

For an online animation of a biomembrane cryofracture follow this link: http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/530082/view

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There is an incredible amount of information available about the structure & functioning of a biological membrane, and many ways to interpret this artistically. I chose to stick with the basic knowledge that biomembranes are mainly composed of the following molecules: phopholipids, cholesterol, proteins and carbohydrate ramifications (see diagram below), and that at any moment smaller molecules are transiting through it in both directions. All these elements are represented on the final visual.

 

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Above: Diagram of a small portion of cell membrane

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Learning the structure of biological membranes was one of my favourite topics during my PhD because it involved lots of drawing. Typically a biomembrane is made of two thin lipid sheets stuck together with large elements (proteins) inserted through them. In a cell, this molecular ensemble surrounds and prevents the inside of the cell from being in contact with the outside of the cell. This structure is highly dynamic: proteins move within this ‘bilayer’ in 2 dimensions to specific locations when the cell needs it. In order to represent this in an accurate diagram, you need to draw a 3 dimensions structure, which mostly had 2 dimensional capabilities, on a (2 dimensional) piece of paper – woo ha!

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This project was made possible by Festival Of The Mind and BBSRC.  Thank you Jen Vanderhoven from CBMNet for inviting me and Mika Ohtsuki for helping out with the mural. A projection of a short documentary about the project is planned on Sept 19 at Spiegeltent FOTM: Fear of the Unseen: Engineering Good Bacteria

 

Homage to Topsy

Art by Florence Blanchard
| Florence EMA Blanchard

On view in the courtyard of Butcher Works in Sheffield UK, Topsy is a new project I’ve just completed.

Topsy was a female elephant born in south east asia around 1875. She met with an unfortunate fate after she was secretly brought into the United Sates to perform with the Forepaugh Circus. Not liking  much her new environment she  gradually gained a reputation as a “bad” elephant and, after killing a spectator in 1902, was sold to Coney Island’s Sea Lion Park.

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Unfortunately things didn’t go better for her in Coney Island. When Sea Lion was leased out at the end of the 1902 season and redeveloped into Luna Park Topsy was involved in several well-publicized incidents, attributed to the actions of either her drunken handler or the park’s new publicity-hungry owners, Frederick Thompson and Elmer Dundy.

Their end-of-the-year plans to hang Topsy at the park in a public spectacle and charge admission were stopped by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The event was cut back to invited guests and press only and Thompson and Dundy agreed to use a more sure method of strangling the elephant with large ropes tied to a steam-powered winch with poison and electrocution planned for good measure. On January 4, 1903 in front of a small crowd of invited reporters and guests Topsy was fed poison, electrocuted, and strangled, the electrocution ultimately killing her. Amongst the press that day was a crew from the Edison Manufacturing movie company who filmed the event. Their film of the electrocution part was released to be viewed in coin-operated kinetoscopes under the title Electrocuting an Elephant.

The story of Topsy fell into obscurity for the next 70 years but has become more prominent in popular culture, partly due to the fact that the film of the event still exists. In popular culture Thompson and Dundy’s killing of Topsy has switched attribution, with claims it was an anti-alternating current demonstration organized by Thomas A. Edison during the War of Currents. Historians point out that Edison was never at Luna Park and the electrocution of Topsy took place 10 years after the War of Currents.

A Special thank you to  Special Steels Group for the sponsor, and ArtFelt for inviting me.

The scultpure will be auctioned later this year to raise funds for Artfelt, the Children’s Hospital art programe, helping children recover in an environment tailored to them. For more info on the project: http://www.herdofsheffield.com/