“…a hand that was all thumbs.”

“There is something coarse about it. The figures have been modelled with a hand that was all thumbs. (Or so one might think at first).

Mason’s masterpieces are awkward monuments made during the last quarter of this century to a class that was slowly disappearing, with many of its members forced into terminal unemployment. A class which today scarcely exists but which left the world its own word: solidarity. I don’t think Mason thought about this as a project; it was in his blood, or, to put it more finely, it was in what he took for granted and worked from.”

John Berger: ‘The Shape of a Pocket’, 2001

11.01.2020 | St Eustache, Paris

Raymond Mason: The Departure of Fruit and Vegetables from the Heart of Paris, 28 February 1969

10.01.2020 | Jardin des Tuileries, Paris

Raymond Mason: ‘La Foule’, 1963-1967

Anyone know what happened to the Baskerville sculpture?

“What makes Patten’s sculpture so unusual and effective a public work is its address to the significance of Baskerville as a typographer, its identification of the typeface as the focus for public celebration. For what has been more important to the development of social, cultural and political awareness in the modern age that the clarity of good printing and the vernacular translation of great texts? That is the democratic significance of Baskerville’s work, and to recognize that is the quite proper work of this sculpture, in which the scaling up of the type-punches paradoxically reminds us just how small are the ‘twenty-six soldiers of lead’ with which a radical printer once promised ‘to conquer the world’.”
– Mel Gooding: ‘Public – Art – Space’, Merrell Holberton Publishers London, 1998

Launch of International Design Competition: Regeneration of Centenary Square in Birmingham

Architects and designers are being offered the chance to play a key role in the regeneration of one of Birmingham’s largest public spaces, through a competition launched by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Landscape Institute on behalf of Birmingham City Council.The competition is open to registered architects, landscape architects, urban designers and students of these disciplines worldwide.

Councillor Ian Ward, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council said: “Centenary Square is one of Birmingham’s most important public spaces and home to some of the city’s landmark buildings, including the Library of Birmingham and the International Convention Centre.“This exciting international competition provides designers and Birmingham City Council with a once in a lifetime opportunity to shape what we hope will become a space accessible to both residents and visitors, promoting the square as a place for people to relax and socialise on a more informal basis in addition to the organised events already held there.“I am looking forward to seeing some truly innovative ideas put forward by designers from around the world.”

Summary_Brief

Paradise Forum Pin-Up

Paradise Circus, Birmingham (Bryant Priest Newman Architects)
Architects’ Journal & Argent Design Charrette

Industry & Genius: Summer 2012

“Industry & Genius is a sculptural tribute to John Baskerville and is probably the world’s only civic monument to a typeface.”

‘Birmingham Perspectives’, Journal of the Birmingham Civic Society, Summer 2012

Builders of the Hall of Memory

Full Text: John_Barnsley_&_Sons_v2

Architects of the Hall of Memory

Full Text:  Architects_Hall_of_Memory

HoM_p/c#3_21.11.1923

Dear Alice
just a
PC to let you see
were I am to-day it is a
lovely day Dick as
come up here for the
day we are going to
see the Art Gallery
now Dick says we have
done enough shop walking
with love Sally