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Dan has created a number of sculptures in the River Don in Sheffield. They are all made from materials found in the river. All are free-standing and as the water levels rise during the winter months most will be returned to the river bed. Dan has also written words to accompany his river sculptures and these are found on signs along the river bank.
See more of Dan’s sculptures HERE
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Lovely
Yes, I too like Dan’s work and also the sentiment behind his work.
Cheers, Mr C 🙂
These are all beautiful sculptures, beautifully photographed. 🙂
Yes, It was a joy to stumble upon these last week. As I’m sure you know taking photographs of water based subjects can be a bit tricky. There were lots of reflections and the sculptures got a bit lost among them. I returned on Sunday with my neutral density filter and trusty tripod to offer some motion blur to the water. I think the sculptures look better with flow of the river blurred. It brings them out in relief agains the background. I very much enjoyed spending time by the river capturing these images and it was a bonus to actually meet the artist on the Sunday!
Thanks for your comment. Have a great weekend. Best wishes, Mr C 🙂
Brilliant! To meet the artist too must have been good. Are these permanent sculptures, or is he planning on them not surviving the winter downpours?
Yes it was a bonus to meet him. We had a long conversation about his work and his motivation for placing the sculptures in a public space. He has no website and is not interested in promoting himself on social media or anywhere.
I like the idea that they are not permanent and that as the river rises over the winter months the sculptures will be reclaimed and the materials deposited back on the river bed from where they came. For me the idea of them returning to the river completes some sort of cycle. The less permanent sculptures will fall and be replaced by new ones. Dan has said he will resume building more in the Spring. He like my photographs and I have offered to document his work next year.
Dan himself would like the sculptures to be more permanent but the ones I photographed are more or less free standing and held together mainly by gravity!
For structures made from found materials they are really well made. He has been very careful and managed to build them perpendicular to the waters surface. There is a figure which I’ve yet to post and it has a bit of a lean. Apparently it was an earlier one and Dan has refined his building technique as he has learned what works and what doesn’t. He was quite surprised and happy on Sunday that some were still standing. He thought they would have been washed away sooner.
The stone circle was more submerged on Sunday and fewer stones could be seen so this image was one taken when I first found it on Friday.
Brilliant! A real insight into his art, and really good it’s transigent and he doesn’t want to publicise it himself! 🙂
We have found rocks arranged sculpturally around the local beach. even simple piles pose questions and raise smiles. I love the mystery of it. And Dan will remain a mystery too in his blurred form Mr C. You have respected his wishes and his work! I like the work without the words. But fair enough. So glad you pointed to these. Cheers, Philippa.
Hi Philippa,
I too love the mystery of found sculptural pieces and before meeting Dan last year I liked that the maker was anonymous and the only reference to anyone was “Dan” in the tiniest of writing on one of the boards with words on. As far as I know he doesn’t promote his work on social media or websites. Personally I like the sculptures without the words but I fully understand Dan has his own motivation for creating these works. I do have some photos of Dan which aren’t blurred. I liked the idea of including Dan as the maker but with the focus on the art. I showed him my photos and he liked the blurred ones. They help to maintain the mystery of the maker! I took some of Phlegm working last year and I know he prefers not to have his photo taken but he was happy with my photos which showed him mainly as a blur (there is one of him standing in front of his mural but with his back to the camera. This was an intentional portrait shot!) I think most artists prefer their work to be the subject and not them and I hope my approach respects what they do. I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. Very best wishes to you and to A, Mr C 🙂