Stephen (Steve) Field RBSA (born 3 June 1954 in Saltash, Cornwall) is an English sculptor, muralist and mosaicist, active mainly in the West Midlands, particularly the Black Country, where a number of his works are on public display. He has been resident artist and public art adviser to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, since 1988,[1][2] and is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists,[3] the Contemporary Glass Society[4] and the British Association of Modern Mosaic.[4] He coordinated Dudley's Millennium Sculpture Trail.[5]
Steve Field | |
---|---|
Born | Stephen Field 3 May 1954 Saltash, Cornwall, England |
Nationality | English |
Occupations |
He studied at the University of Sheffield, earning a degree in architecture, and Wolverhampton Polytechnic, where he achieved a master's degree in fine art.[1] He cites his influences as futurism and vorticism, the sculptor Walter Ritchie,[6] his MPhil examiner David Harding, and the Mexican muralists.
In 1978 he painted a series of three murals on the gable ends of terraced houses at the eastern end of Heathfield Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, in conjunction with Paula Woof and Mark Renn.[7] These murals lasted around 27 years before being overpainted by new murals. In 1982, he painted an internal mural at Frankley Community School, together with Woof and Renn.[8] The trio worked as "The Mural Company" and were profiled in a 1982 Central Television documentary, "Round About".[7] In June–July 1984, Field and Renn exhibited on murals, jointly, at Bilston Museum and Art Gallery.[9]
Field, Woof, Renn, David Patten and Derek Jones worked jointly as the West Midlands Public Art Collective, which was active circa 1987.[10]
He received the Royal Society of Arts 'Art for Architecture' Award in 1993 and an Arts and Business Award in 2005.[3]
Field is married to fellow muralist Cathryn Ryall, with whom he has collaborated artistically. Field has also completed several collaborations with the sculptor John McKenna.[11]
Works
editPicture | Work | Location | Date | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Coordinates (With links to map and aerial photo sources) |
Owner | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth of Pegasus | Brotherton Street, Pye Bank, Sheffield | 1977 | Mural | Dulux paint | 53°23′41″N 1°27′50″W / 53.39476°N 1.46397°W | Depicts Pegasus. Completed as part of Field's degree studies at Sheffield University. Paint donated by Dulux. The house on which this was painted was due for demolition in 2010.[12][13]
| ||||
Handsworth Triptych | Heathfield Road, Handsworth, Birmingham | 1978 | Mural | Emulsion paint | 52°30′29″N 1°54′18″W / 52.50802°N 1.90502°W | Set of three murals, depicting African wildlife. Since overpainted.
| ||||
City of a Thousand Trades | Bell Street Passage, Birmingham | 1987 | Relief |
|
Made by the West Midlands Public Art Collective; commissioned by the then West Midlands County Council; lost[10]
| |||||
Industries of the Lye | Lye | 1989 | Mural | [14] Removed 2010
| ||||||
Cameo | Stourbridge bus interchange | 1994 | Mosaics and anamorphic columns | Centro | Mosaics of a grey heron and a cockerel, based on cameo glass from nearby Broadfield House Glass Museum.[15]
| |||||
Sunbeam Car Panels | St. John's Retail Park, Wolverhampton | 1995 | Relief | Bronze | 3m by 2m | 52°34′47″N 2°07′38″W / 52.57963°N 2.12734°W (approx) | (with John McKenna ARBS sculptor)[11]
| |||
The Lone Rider | Penn Road, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton | 1996 | Sculpture | Hoptonwood limestone | 52°34′33″N 2°08′09″W / 52.57586°N 2.13580°W | Marks the site of the former AJS motorcycle factory. Carved by Robert Bowers, assisted by Michael Scheuermann.[11][16]
| ||||
Moonstones | Asda supermarket, Queslett Road, Great Barr | 1998 | Carving | Stone | 52°33′09″N 1°54′32″W / 52.5526°N 1.9088°W | Asda | Nine stones, depicting members of the Lunar Society[17]
| |||
Sleipnir | Hill, overlooking Wednesbury Great Western Street metro stop | 1998 | 52°32′50″N 2°01′35″W / 52.5471°N 2.0265°W | Depicting Sleipnir, Odin's mythical eight-legged horse[18]
| ||||||
Maypole | Junction of Maypole Street and Windmill Bank, Wombourne | 1999 | Sculpture | Steel | 52°32′09″N 2°11′09″W / 52.53593°N 2.18584°W | Wombourne Parish Council | Includes mosaic work by Cathryn Ryall.[11][19]
| |||
Salamander in Flames | Flood Street Island, Dudley | 2000 | 52°30′26″N 2°04′51″W / 52.50720°N 2.08085°W | Part of Dudley Millennium Sculpture Trail. Lettering by Malcolm Sier. Fabrication by Apollo Engineering, Brierley Hill.[2] Depicts a salamander, in reference to salamanders in metallurgy.
| ||||||
Fleet Air Arm Memorial | National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas | 2009 | Granite, on a Portland stone base |
| ||||||
Hovering Kestrel | Citadel Logistics Centre, Bilston | 2011 | Stainless steel | 52°34′06″N 2°03′19″W / 52.56847°N 2.05526°W | (with John McKenna ARBS Sculptor) | |||||
Fons Juventis | Park Hall Academy, Castle Bromwich | 2011 | Stainless steel | Park Hall Academy | Relief sculpture. Artist's sketch pictured
| |||||
Civil war sculpture | Stevens Park, Wollescote | 2011 | (with Graham Jones)[20] Depicts Prince Rupert hiding from the Roundheads in the well at Wollescote Hall.
| |||||||
Anamorphic Portico | West Bromwich bus station | 1999 | -2002Mosaic and anamorphic column | 52°31′02″N 1°59′42″W / 52.51728°N 1.99499°W | Images loosely derived from David Christie Murray's book A Capful o' Nails.[4][15]
| |||||
Giant pictorial sundial | Measham Millennium Green | 2002 | Sundial | 52°42′13″N 1°30′32″W / 52.70358°N 1.50878°W | Commemorating Joseph Wilkes.[4][21]
|
Bibliography
editField has also written articles about his work:
- Ostler, Timothy; Field, Steve (18 January 1984). "Working With Artists: 1 Possibilities". Architects' Journal. 179 (3): 55–59, 61–66.
- —— (Spring 2003). "A Trail through Time – Dudley's Millennium Sculpture Trail". The Blackcountryman. 36 (2): 41. ISSN 0006-4335.
- —— (Summer 2003). "Commemorating Wolverhampton's Historic Vehicles". The Blackcountryman. 36 (3): 53. ISSN 0006-4335.
- —— (Autumn 2003). "The Story of Sleipnir". The Blackcountryman. 36 (4): 31. ISSN 0006-4335.
References
edit- ^ a b "Public Art". Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
- ^ a b "Millennium Sculpture Trail – Flood Street Island". BBC Online. 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ a b "Stephen Field". Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Mosaic Image – About Us". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "Dudley Millennium Sculpture Trail". BBC Online. 2003. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
- ^ Suart, Paul (20 July 2011). "Emotional Return to Mark 60 Years". Birmingham Evening Mail. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013 – via HighBeam.
- ^ a b "Round About". MACE Archive. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
- ^ Ostler, Timothy; Field, Steve (18 January 1984). "Working With Artists: 1 Possibilities". Architects' Journal. 179 (3): 55–59, 61–66.
- ^ "Gallery listings". Art Monthly (77): 41. 1 June 1984.
- ^ a b Tilson, Barbara (November 1991). "Art for the People". RIBA Journal. 98 (11): 41.
- ^ a b c d Noszlopy, George Thomas; Waterhouse, Fiona (1 January 2005). Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9780853239895.
- ^ "Field, Steve: 'Pegasus' mural". Public Art Research Archive. Sheffield Hallam University. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "Mythical mural". Burngreave Messenger. October 2006. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Bennett, John (1990). Public Art Guide. Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. p. 41. ISBN 0900911271.
- ^ a b "Anamorphic Mosaics". Mosaic Image. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "The Lone Rider". The Lone Rider. Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ Noszlopy, George T. (1998). Public Sculpture of Birmingham. Jeremy Beach (ed.). Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0853236925.
- ^ "'Silly' Statue Sparks Row; Horse sculptor defends work". Birmingham Evening Mail. 8 July 1998. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013 – via HighBeam.
- ^ "Maypole". Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ "Park sculpture immortalises moment in Stourbridge history". Stourbridge News. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
- ^ "Sundials". Mosaic Image. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.