Great Northern River

"Great Northern River" is a canvas of the River Tees, 14m x 5.2m, cascading down from the ceiling to capture its power, which you can hear and feel rumbling inside you when you stand by the section at High Force. It is painted with materials – peat, clay, iron deposits, mud, blast furnace slag and silt. All dug from the banks and bed of the Tees, flowing and bleeding into each other on the journey from source to sea. The work is intentionally vast and brooding, organic, texturally complex and odorous, inviting close examination as well appreciation of the whole. The materiality makes it unique and identifiable. The scale and labour intensity makes it authentic and impressive.