unpicking places: ways of making

Image: 'BLUE BOAR HARD', a royal blue glazed architectural ceramic panel, waterjet cut and laser etched. One of a series of motifs created to be embedded into the landscape of Rochester Riverside. Blue Boar is a recurring name in the local area.

'unpicking places: ways of making' is the title of a new exhibition by Christopher Tipping at The Rochester Gallery, 95 High Street, Rochester, Kent. The exhibition opened on 28th July and runs until 5pm on Saturday14th October 2022. The Gallery Director is Allison Young. The Exhibition was curated by FrancisKnight Art Consultancy. Tipping has been fortunate to work with many great collaborators and manufacturers who have generously donated time, materials and expertise to the exhibition, most notably IP Surfaces, Darwen Terracotta & Arthur Jackson & Co Lt. The drawings & work on display are taken from two flagship projects in Medway, Chatham Placemaking for Medway Council and Rochester Riverside for Countryside Properties.

All images by Rikard ?sterlund.?

Essay by Louise Francis and Laura Knight

FrancisKnight Public Art Consultants

With over 30 years’ experience, Christopher Tipping works on large-scale public realm projects, exploring the interpretation of place with a strong contextual narrative focused on detail, materials, and craft skills. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Tipping has delivered meaningful public art projects nationally, notably lead artist on the award-winning Margate Steps and with us on the Chatham Placemaking Project and Rochester Riverside. He is fascinated by the natural world, passionate about animal welfare and ecological issues and equally inspired by our built environment, how communities develop and grow and the way we navigate and use man-made spaces.

Image: A series of display cases filled with 30 years of collecting natural and man-made objects. The collection is both a physical diary and reference library of materials, colour and memory.

The work in this exhibition reflects Tipping’s artistic practice, focusing particularly on examples of work that have taken place in Medway between 2015 and 2022. A large-scale interpretation of his working sketchbooks is on show, montaging points of reference with which he creates his public realm work.?The touchstones of his working method are historical and archival, delving into the past to realise the present with attention to the finer details.?Often a map or image, font, trace line, or kerb will draw him in and begin his ritual of exploration.??This contextual research is backed up with visits,?explored through walking, cycling, and chatting to those that know the area.

Image Above: Waterjet cut & laser etched glazed architectural ceramic letter W - Part of the project 'Under the Shadow of the Crane', Phase 3 Rochester Riverside.

Underpinning the realisation of Tipping’s work is genuine collaborative relationships, whether it’s with design teams, specialist fabricators, or crafts people and artists.?Embracing their skills and Tipping’s attention to detail, the use of latest technologies and hand-crafted techniques create the texture, colour, shape, and form of the bespoke artwork. Elements are honed, polished, sandblasted, flamed finished, waterjet cut, laser etched, glazed, embedded, debossed, and inset.?

Image: 'COAL - METER HEAVER WHIPPER', a 100kg threshold slab in waterjet cut, laser etched and sandblasted range of coloured granite & limestone. These 1200mm x 400mm x 75mm monolithic slabs have been embedded into the thresholds of houses and apartments at Rochester Riverside. As you cross the threshold into the building, you cross the collective history of the site.

For the smaller space, we enter Tipping’s studio, a recreated imagining of his real attic room by the sea.?These images reflect his personal space, where he spends his working day.?A window to view the horizon, and its every changing outlook, his plants from his garden to ground him to his garden oasis and objects he has collected from exploring new locations.??

Image: 'Inside my Head', a recreation of Tipping's attic studio at home in Ramsgate. This photographic work was then enhanced to include references, objects, samples and other images of projects in progress or completed. the real space, become a metaphorical space within the gallery, a space for thinking and contemplation

Not all ideas will come to fruition in a project, but they float to resurface again in his drawings and illustrations.???

You may have stepped over Tipping’s artwork, in Chatham town centre or along the streets of Rochester Riverside and questioned what is it, what does it mean, where has it come from? It exists almost as a hidden history itself, ready to be uncovered, observed, or found.

Image: 'Golden Samphire', a 150kg threshold slab in cast iron. These 1350mm x 400mm x 75mm cast iron plaques have been embedded into the thresholds of houses and apartments at Rochester Riverside. As you cross the threshold into the building, you cross the collective history of the site.

This exhibition uncovers the creative process and has been a great opportunity to bring Tipping’s work together demonstrating in what he describes as ‘creatively ‘looking’ … surveying spaces’ and ‘gently unpicking them’. FrancisKnight

Image: '5 CRANES DANCING', is the foundry pattern for a cast iron paving plaque, the pattern is cnc routed in 3D in model board and was donated to the exhibition by Arthur Jackson & Son Ltd. The cast iron work is now embedded in the Rochester Riverside development for client Countryside Properties.